Strange people from a war-torn world
by Narsauce
Summary: The war for Earth is over, the Elders and Advent have been defeated. As Alpha Squad, the best XCom has, begins to settle into a new life of peace, their lives are thrown astray as a mission to find an old friend gets FUBAR. Now, thrown into a world new to them, they must adapt to survive... the high school classroom as teachers.
1. Arrival

_**Hello again. It's Narsauce. I'm back, with another story. Unfortunately, it's not another chapter of Of Angels, Demons and Hunters. Rather, it's an XCom 2 and RWBY crossover that I hinted at a while back. As I said back then, it will mainly focus on my main four Soldiers from XCom 2 getting transported to Remnant by plot devices.**_

 _ **Disclaimers, XCom is owned by Firaxis and RWBY is owned by RT. Blah Blah Blah, see the end for another AN.**_

 _ **Also, before we start, Cover art pending, be back with it soon.**_

 ** _Update 12/14/2019: Added some more context and just improved some of the lackluster parts of this chapter._**

* * *

XCom. Earth's covert task force to fight aliens and the unknown. For the longest time, they were the first line of defence against the alien invasion, the only line of defence against them, actually. For around six months, they held out against the alien threat before destroying the Temple ship. Then, after a month of relative peace, the aliens attacked again, and completely overwhelmed them. After that, for the next twenty or so years, once the aliens had taken over the world, XCom remained underground. Their best teams had all died or had been captured by the hands of the aliens.

Well, all except one, at least.

Alpha Squad, the best meld infused, psionically capable troops XCom had to offer during the days of the invasion. Alpha Squad was comprised of four members, their leader, ranger and scout, Colonel Gabriel "Fatal" Owen, their sharpshooter, Major Angela "Stonecold" Aurora, the demolitions and weapons expert, Captain Darren "Rocket" Yip, and Captain Anne-Marie "Professor" Rayne, the combat medic and support officer.

Together, they waged a four-person war against the aliens for twenty years. They fought alone until XCom reformed, which they joined and continued to fight for. They fought the Chosen, the Elders, Advent, etc. It didn't matter, regardless of who they were, so long as they either weren't pointing a gun at Advent or they weren't with an Advent gun to their head. Eventually, they won, they destroyed the Elders and killed the Chosen. Humanity rebuilt, with the alien tech that the defeated Xenos left behind. Now, Alpha Squad worked with XCom to find one of their lost scientist, Dr. Vahlen.

* * *

 _The Avenger, Command room…_

"Bradford. You called?"

"Yes, I did." Bradford said, "You four are our best, brightest, and most capable psionics and fighters XCom has to offer. I am tasking you four with a mission to track down one of our most valuable assets, Dr. Vahlen."

"Well," Gabriel said, "Color me impressed. You finally managed to track her down?"

Bradford shook his head and replied, "Not sure if it's her specifically, but signals are an old

XCom encryption pattern. Or something like that, at least. So, it might be her."

"And you want us to go in there and find the source of the signal and do what exactly?" Angela asked.

"Extract it if you can." The Commander, a woman with choppy brown hair and a scar on the left side of her face, said, "And bring whatever it is back to base."

"Sooo… Simple, right?" Darren said, "Oh shit, I just jinxed it."

"Let's hope you didn't," Anne said, shaking her head at her husband.

"Well, regardless of whether or not you did jinx the mission, you gotta go and retrieve whatever is producing those signals," Bradford said.

"And please remember to stay safe, you guys," The Commander said, hugging Alpha.

"Well then," Gabriel said as he pulled himself out of the hug, "Let's get a moving, I suppose. I'll drive."

* * *

Approximately twenty minutes later in the skyranger…

As Gabriel flew the skyranger towards the signal's location, he looked back to see Angela, Darren and Anne sitting behind him. He smiled at his wife, Angela, who smiled back. They had been married for seven or so years. Since both of them were part of XCom and the military, as well as constantly on the move and in danger, neither of them would wish to bring a child into the world, especially the one they lived in at the time. They wanted to wait for the right time, for the war to be over so that their young baby could grow up not worrying about whether or not Mom and Dad would be alive at the end of the night or if they would come home the same after a mission. And right now, Angela was pregnant, barely two months along. Ever since the group of four first joined XCom when they were all seventeen, Angela and Gabriel developed some bond with each other similar to how Darren and Anne-Marie developed a bond together. Even after the aliens took over, Gabriel, Angela, Darren and Anne stayed together and such, continuing to fight the aliens in guerrilla warfare. And finally, after twenty years of fighting, blood, death, they won. And they could hopefully return to a life that could be considered normal.

"Well, we're coming up on the signals locations. One final gear check before we head in," Gabriel called.

"Copy," Angela said over comms

.

"Roger that," Anne confirmed.

"Gotcha buddy," Darren replied.

The skyranger pushed onward, one hundred and fifty kilometres and a ten minute flight away from the signal. At around fifty kilometres out, Gabriel started to notice a relatively sizable storm gathering on ahead, around five kilometres. He didn't think too much of it, skyrangers were made to take some serious hits and a few bolts of lightning wouldn't really hurt it all that much.

That is until he started to get a headache.

"Hey Anne?" he called out to the back, "You picking up anything weird back there?"

"Yeah, a bit," Anne called back, "This thing just sorta manifested out of nowhere. Asimov is picking up some weird gravitational fluctuations, as well as some magnetic ones."

"I can feel something…" Angela muttered, "Weird… this storm isn't natural…"

Gabriel nodded to himself, "I know what you mean. This thing's giving me a headache and it isn't even near us."

"Feel's like a psion is going all out here," Darren commented, "It almost feels…"

"Hold on one second," Anne interjected, cutting her husband off, "Asimov is picking up spatial-temporal anomalies forming."

"Where?" Gabriel said, as the skyranger drew closer to the storm's edge, "In this pla…"

"THERE'S ONE ON TOP OF US!" Anne screeched. All the sensors in the skyranger suddenly went haywire, flashing all forms of colours. The alarm blared, transmitting all data back to the Avenger. And the skyranger and all its passengers vanished.

Never to be seen again.

* * *

Unknown Location, Unknown Time…

The first thing Gabriel saw when he woke up was Angela in his face. Not that it was a bad thing, and also not unknown for her, just uncommon on duty. She was very professional. Some might even say, 'Stone cold'...

It was then he realized that she was unconscious. Which was not right. It was also then that he noticed that the skyranger crashed into a lush forest full of green trees.

"Angela. It's time to get up." Gabriel said tapping her head a bit. Angela's eyes slowly opened as she registered the situation.

"Did you get the license of the truck that hit us?" Angela asked rhetorically.

"Nope. I did get a face full of you, though," Gabriel replied cheerily. Angela rolled her eyes as she kissed him and got up.

Slowly, Darren and Anne came to and Darren asked, "What the hell happened?"

"Dunno," Gabriel said, shrugging, "But it happened. And now we're here. Wherever here is."

Anne chuckled as she brought out her GREMLIN drone, Asimov, which was still working for some godforsaken reason. She looked at the drone and said "Can you scan the area, buddy? Try to connect into any local networks you can find."

The drone 'nodded', if the drone could nod, and flew out of the wrecked skyranger. Almost immediately the drone flew back into the wreck and began chittering off to Anne. Anne's eyes widened as she got out her Chosen Assault rifle, more commonly known as Disruptor Rifle, and loaded it.

Gabriel looked surprised and asked, "What's wrong Anne?"

"We aren't alone," Anne said, getting outside. The rest of the group shrugged and prepped their weapons. Gabriel brought out his Chosen Shotgun, Arashi, loaded it and checked Katana, the weapon of the Chosen Assassin. Angela brought out her Darklance and her Darkclaw, preparing both of them. Darren brought out his prototype Chosen cannon, which he called Ragnarok, recovered from the fight with the Elders in their stronghold along with his advanced grenade launcher, loading in the plasma grenades he kept handy.

"Alrighty," Gabriel said, "According to Anne over there, we aren't alone. The first living thing you see that makes any hostile actions, take the bloody shots, aim to kill."

"Got it," Darren said, revving his gun's barrels.

"Copy." Angela said as she took up a vantage point, "Which way are they coming from?"

"Southeast." Anne replied, readying her gun.

"Roger, compensating," Angela shifted her sights to a thicket nearby.

A few seconds later, a creature with all black fur, red eyes and white bone armour bust right through the tree line. When the group saw it, Gabriel said "That thing… it looks wrong, it feels wrong. What is it?"

"Dunno, but it sure as hell is ugly," Darren replied.

The beast turned to them and growled. It then howled and charged. Angela fired one shot, killing the beast before it even got close to them.

"Target down," she said.

"You always deliver, don't you darling?" Gabriel chuckled.

"Thanks," Angela said, "But we ain't done yet. At least twenty more contacts coming out of the forest."

"Shit…" Darren said, "Well then. Let's fuck 'em up!"

* * *

Ozpin was having a fine night. That is until he looked on the cameras in the Emerald Forest as he usually did. On one of the cameras, he saw what looked like a downed flying vehicle, which looked like a bullhead, with four people and a weird drone in it. Suddenly, the group got into what looked like a battle formation. One of the women, holding the long barreled gun, got up on the downed vessel while the drone controller got out front. A man with a shotgun and a sword on his back leapt out with them, followed closely behind a man wielding what looked like a large minigun.

Suddenly, a single Beowulf came out of the forest near them and began sniffing the air. Almost as soon as it did, the Beowulf charged at the group. The woman, with what looked like a sniper rifle took a single shot, sending a red/black bolt right through the Beowulf's head, killing it instantly.

'Interesting,' Ozpin thought, 'Strange weapons they wield.'

Then the horde arrived. En masse swarmed what had to be at least one-hundred Beowolves, from all direction. The team of four worked with so much cohesion, you would have thought them to have been doing this for their whole life. The two women with rifles laid down fire on the advancing Grimm, dropping them. Any that got to close were shredded by the man with the shotgun and the man with the minigun. No Beowolf got within ten meters of the group, each being torn to pieces before they could get in the radius. But that was only the beginning, as more Grimm, along with larger varieties of Grimm began to break cover from the thicket and surrounding forest.

'It's only a matter of time before they get overrun.' Ozpin thought. Quickly, he pressed the call button to Glynda Goodwitch, second in command at Beacon Academy.

"Glynda," Ozpin said, "I may have a mission for you."

* * *

Team RWBY's Dorm Room…

Ruby was having a fun night. Right now, at least. This week was their break week and since none of the team was going home, Ruby made it a priority to have as much fun as possible during the short time classes were out. So… Ruby and Co. were sitting around playing Remnant's version of Monopoly, the game that they had been playing for the past three hours. They had asked Team JNPR if they wanted to join, but unfortunately, they made it a point to practice right now.

"Alright, Chance card." Ruby said as she placed her piece on the Chance square, "Let's see… oh! That's nice."

"Ruby?" Weiss asked, "What's the card?"

"Read'em and weep, Weiss!" Ruby said, holding up a Lawsuit chance card, which let her take one of another players properties. Ruby carefully plucked one of Weiss' properties out of her hands before placing it in her own. Yang and Blake chuckled while Weiss looked dumbfounded.

"That's unfair!" Weiss said, angered, "I'm gonna get you back for that!"

"You can try," Ruby replied, sticking her tongue out at her partner, "But you will fail."

Just as Weiss was about to retort with an angry comment, they heard a knock at the door. Yang got up and said, "Who is knocking on our door at eleven thirty at night?"

As she opened the door, Yang was met with one Glynda Goodwitch, staring right back at her.

Just as Yang was about to ask Glynda what was wrong, she said, "Get dressed."

"Pardon?" Weiss asked, looking up from the board game.

"Get dressed. Ozpin gave me a mission and told me to take a first-year team with me. We are to investigate an anomaly in the Emerald Forest, around two kilometres out due west."

"Ok…" Yang said, "And I'm assuming you chose us for a reason?"

"Yes," Glynda rolled her eyes, "Now get dressed, the Bullhead leaves in ten minutes."

* * *

 _Back with Alpha..._

"Is there a fuckin' end to these things?!" Darren shouted as he gunned down another few Ursa with his minigun.

"Obviously fucking not!" Angela shouted, shooting a Nevermore out of the sky.

"Just like the Chrysalids all over again!" Gabriel yelled as he used Katana, his sword, to cut right through a Deathstalkers armour while blasting another to bits with his shotgun, "Only no zombies!"

For the past twenty or so minutes, Alpha Squad had blown through every single one of the beasts that came their way. It was a slaughter, as every single beast fell in heaps before the four-person team. Finally, the beasts seemed to slow their assault, granting a much-needed reprieve in the fighting.

"Are they done?" Anne-Marie asked, lifting her rifle up onto her shoulder.

Gabriel shrugged and said, "Might be. Not like these things have any strategy with their attacks. They're just rushing in like crazy. Must've killed at least one hundred of the fuckers."

"Right…" Anne said, "Hold up, we got contacts. Due west. Flying vehicle."

"Vehicle?" Darren asked.

"Yup, sorta like our skyranger." Anne replied, "At least six biological signatures on the inside."

Angela nodded and said, "I have visual. Should I take the shot? I could blow 'em out of the sky, right here, right now."

"No," Gabriel said, "Let them speak. We don't want to make enemies among the locals."

"Copy that." Angela replied, holstering her Darklance, "I'm not fully convinced about them being friendly."

"That's fine, Major. But we don't shoot first." Gabriel said, "On humans, at least."

Then, the VTOL (Vertical takeoff or landing) aircraft landed on the ground, opening its bay doors up to reveal a middle-aged blond woman wearing a purple blouse and skirt. She was holding a riding crop in her right hand and had glasses on her face. But by far what surprised the four agents of XCom the most were the four children along with the woman.

"What's the stripper doing here with four kids?" Anne asked sarcastically.

"Anne…"

Anne put her hands up defensively and said, "Hey, just saying. The old blonde woman looks like the bimbos on…"

"Anne!" Gabriel shouted, "Put a sock in it!"

Anne quickly shut up, seeing as she didn't want to find herself on the receiving end of Gabriel's wrath. Last time she did, she spent a week scrubbing the crew quarters with a toothbrush, which was only cut short when The Commander told Gabriel that she did not have to complete the task. When Gabriel tried to argue, the Commander used her homemade cookies as leverage on Gabriel, causing him to drop the case. Having Anne lip off to him was one thing, but missing out on those cookies was a completely different matter.

"Alrighty," Gabriel said, "Let's make a good impression now."

He then turned to the five assembled people and gestured for them stop, before saying, "State your name and purpose being here."

The woman in purple was the first to respond, "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. I'm a professor at Beacon Academy and I was sent here to bring you all to safety."

The whole of Alpha Squad looked at each other, seeming to have a silent conversation, before bursting out laughing. Glynda then asked, "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry. Didn't you just say that you were a FUCKING TEACHER?!" Darren said as he continued to laugh hysterically.

Glynda was less than amused at the comment and said, "Yes, but I am also a fully trained and licenced Huntress."

"A what?" Angela, the most… stoic of the group asked.

"A Huntress," Glynda replied.

Angela rolled her eyes and said, "That does not explain it in the slightest. What do you do, how do you do it, why do you do what you do. That sort of stuff is what I would like to know, not the title of your job."

Glynda growled and muttered under her breath something about strange people, before saying,

"As a Huntress, it is my job to protect the people of Remnant from the creatures of Grimm."

Anne then asked, "So, the things we just fought. Those are Grimm, as you call them?"

"Yes. And you surprisingly handled yourselves quite well, despite obvious lack of training… " Glynda said, only to be cut off by Gabriel, who had a golden glow to his eyes. Which was a side effect of his psychic powers, similar to how Darren's glow black, Angela's blue, Anne's red and the Commander's silver. They were special like that.

"Ma'am, I dunno who the hell you think you are talking to, but people lacking training is something we are not. Period," Gabriel said, looking pissed off.

Glynda again gave off an annoyed look, making Gabriel think that it was her default mood and facial expression, before saying, "I was going to say that you have a lack of training as hunters. Not lack of training in general."

"Ah." Gabriel replied, "So… what's with the kids on the VTOL?"

"Hey!" shouted one of the voices from the ship, "We aren't kids!"

"Quiet Ruby!" another said.

"Fine…" the girl, Ruby replied.

Glynda sighed and said, "They are students. Some of the best first years that have ever enrolled in the Academy."

"And their age?" Darren asked.

Glynda responded, "Three of them are seventeen years old and one of them is fifteen."

"What are they there for?" He asked again.

Glynda once again replied, "They are training to be huntresses."

"FIFTEEN?!" Gabriel shouted, "You have got to be kidding me, right? You guys are training fucking FIFTEEN-year-old kids to fight those… THINGS?"

Angela grabbed Gabriel's shoulder and pulled him back, causing him to stop his rant. She then said, "Gabe. We were seventeen when we enlisted in XCom, and that was a lot more dangerous than this is. Besides, these kids are just in school, it can't be made to be to dangerous."

"Fine. I guess you're right." Gabriel relented, "So, you said were sent here to get us outta here."

"Yes, I was," Glynda replied.

Anne shrugged and said, "Then let's get going."

* * *

Riding a bullhead, Alpha Squad noted, was a lot like riding in a Skyranger. That was the only way to describe it, being that the flight was relatively smooth and about as cramped as sardines in a pressure sealed can. Of course, during the flight, there were lots of questions asked by the children. Being that they were seventeen and fifteen, they did have some… interesting questions for the four XCom members.

"Did you make those weapons?" Ruby asked.

All of them shook their heads, before Anne said, "We didn't make them. We killed the people that had them before us and took them."

Weiss looked shocked, "Wait, you killed people? That's murder!"

Angela chuckled and said, "It is only murder when you aren't in a war, kid. When you're in a war, morality is blurred, the line between right and wrong is… next to nonexistent."

"But you killed people! Isn't that morally wrong?" Ruby retorted.

"They weren't exactly human… putting it simply. They were… something else," Gabriel replied. Upon saying this, he noticed that Blake's bow twitched, something that bows weren't supposed to do. So, being the inquisitive gentleman he was, Gabriel asked, "Kid, your bow just moved. Care to explain?"

"Uh… I… don't know what you're talking about…" Blake replied.

Anne quickly caught on to her commanding officer, activating the heat vision enhancement on the visor of her helmet. What she saw surprised her, putting it simply. On top of her head, there rested two triangular heat signatures. Anne then asked, "Why the hell do you have cat ears?"

The four young girls' eyes shot open in surprise. Firstly, these new people had held off an army of Grimm with ease, secondly, they supposedly fought in a war when no wars had happened on Remnant for around sixty years, and thirdly, they found out Blake's identity as a Faunus in less than a second of her bow twitching being mentioned. Yang stammered, "What… what… how?"

"Heat vision module. Comes in handy," Anne replied, "Now, would you mind telling us why exactly you have cat ears?"

"Umm... because I'm a Faunus," Blake said, removing her bow and revealing the two little cat ears that perched atop her head.

"Y'know, I would say something about the ears being cute and all," Darren commented, "But I'm thirty-eight, and I'm married, and that would just be plain weird."

"Thank you," Blake replied, nodding her head in thanks, only to notice the look the other three members of the Squad were giving her. They weren't ones of disgust or anything, but rather ones of intrigue. She was taken back before saying, "Can you guys… umm… stop staring?"

"Oh," Angela said, "Sorry about that. We've just… well… never seen a human with animal features before."

"Really?" Weiss asked, "It's not that uncommon."

"Not the case where we're from, obviously," Gabriel replied, "So… define Faunus. Are they like a different species from humans or…?"

Glynda was the one who responded for this question, "Well, we actually don't know about that. We believe that Humans and Faunus are different species, although we can never confirm it."

"So what you're saying is," Anne said, "Being overly Japanese is in right now… fuckin' sweet."

"And by overly Japanese you mean?" Weiss asked confusedly.

"Oh that," Darren said sheepishly, "Basically what Anne means by that is there is this country back home called Japan, right? And Japan has some… weird fetishes to say the least…"

"I was a weeb," he muttered under his breath, "I should know…"

Yang gave a confused look, "Weird as in?"

"Well…" Angela said, "You know what? Let's just leave it at the fact that if you, Blake, were to

go to Japan and parade around with your ears out for everyone to see, you would most likely be

treated as the second coming."

"Which means?" Blake asked again.

"Basically a religious deity," Gabriel replied.

"WHAT?!" everyone expect Glynda yelled.

"Japan is weird," Gabriel said, "The less you think about it, the better off you are."

Suddenly, the Bullhead came to an abrupt stop as it landed. The bay doors opened, and Team RWBY rushes off of it almost instantly, leaving Alpha behind in the… rose petals?

Darren, being confused, asked, "Umm… excuse me, what the fuck?"

"That would be Ms. Rose's Semblance." Another voice replied, this time coming from a middle-aged man with silver hair, a cane and a black suit, "Now, that aside, my name is Ozpin, and I would like to talk to you four in private."

* * *

 _Ozpin's office, a few minutes later_

"So, would you mind explaining how you did this?"

Alpha had been gathered in Ozpin's office, sitting opposite to the elderly man who's name is Ozpin. When Anne heard the names, she burst out laughing, and could still not stop laughing at all.

Gabriel, who was getting quite annoyed at Anne's continuous laughing, asked, "Anne, why the hell are you still fucking laughing? It's been ten minutes!"

"Don't you get it?" Anne said through wheezes of laughter, "The Wizard of Oz? Glynda the Goodwitch? Somewhere over the rainbow?"

"I do apologize, but our names aside," Ozpin interrupted, "Could you kindly answer the question. How did you manage to get here? And on top of that, how did you manage to defeat nearly two-hundred Grimm without breaking a sweat."

"Question one, we have no idea," Angela said, "One second we were calmly flying in our skyranger to find an old friend where we got caught in an anomaly, the next we were flopping on the ground in our ruined skyranger. Not much to it, all things considered."

"On another note," Anne said, "If I got the readings from the anomalies correct, they're the same ones we read when the Commander appeared a decade ago."

"Appeared, you say?" Ozpin replied, "How so?"

"Appeared as in she wasn't there one moment, there the next," Gabriel said, "Why do yha wanna know?"

"Hair colour?" Ozpin asked.

"Umm, brown I think," Anne replied, "Though I always did notice that she liked to have red highlights in all the time."

"Was she wearing anything when you first found her?" Ozpin asked again.

Gabriel looked slightly confused, "Yes of course. A tattered cloak and some… umm… I think they were jeans and a t-shirt? Maybe? To be honest, she looked like she got a two-way trip right

through a blender and back with the amount of scarring on her body."

"Really?" Ozpin said, "Interesting…"

"Alrighty, let's try to focus on the task at hand," Gabriel said, quickly changing the subject, as he knew the Commander desired her privacy about some things, "On to the second question, we've faced worse odds before. Arguably, those numbers were rookie numbers for us."

"That's… frightening, to say the least," Glynda said, "For some very seasoned huntsmen teams, even that could be a challenge. Would you mind telling us where you were trained."

"XCom," Darren replied nonchalantly.

Having no clue what in Oum's name they were talking about, Ozpin asked, "And that is?"

"Earth's Xeno combat unit," Gabriel replied. Because they weren't on Earth anymore, nor was

XCom really a secret back on Earth, Gabriel felt it OK to reveal these secrets, "On top of that,

we're also psions."

When Ozpin and Glynda gave him confused looks, Angela replied, "He means that we are capable of manifesting and controlling energy and matter with our minds. We can manifest constructs out of energy, use telepathy, heal, and teleport. Also, we can augment our strength and speed to superhuman levels."

"That's… a long list," Glynda said, "Can you all do those things?"

"Yup," Darren replied, "Though some of us can do those specific things a bit better than others. Gabriel can do the constructs better than just about anyone we know, I can teleport with more efficiency, Angela is the best telepath we know of, and Anne just has to be the best healer ever."

"Really? Is that so?"

Gabriel nodded, "Yes, it is. All the shit we just told you is true. Even the fact that we're from a different world and super soldiers."

"Well in that case," Ozpin said, "How would you like a job?"

* * *

 _The next morning, Cafeteria_

To say the Cafeteria looked like a war scene would be putting it lightly. Bodies were strewn everywhere, not dead, just unconscious. The walls were painted like a Jackson Pollock painting, which is to say, there was random colour splattered everywhere. Tables were strewn around the cafeteria in the worst of ways, leaving little in the way of organization. It was at this moment that Alpha Squad had sauntered into the cafeteria, just narrowly avoiding the splash of soda that had covered Neptune just moments before.

"What the hell have we gotten ourselves into…" Gabriel muttered.

"If only we knew…" Angela replied, "If only…"

* * *

 **Alrighty, a few things to clear up before we go on. Firstly, the four members of Alpha Squad or Alpha Team, whichever, are exceptionally psionically gifted. This means that they can do things that characters like the Templars from XCom 2 WOTC could do with little effort.**

 **Secondly, I noticed in WOTC that there was no Chosen Cannon weapon for the heavy explosive guy class. So Ragnarok is a compromise, with it shredding armour of its target in each attack as well as dealing damage to the person's health.**

 **As for power levels of these four, think of them as able to challenge Maidens, but in the end, the fight will come down to how skilled each combatant is with their powers.**

 **And that is that, see ya'll in the next upload, which may or may not be an update of oADH. Other than that, this is Narsauce, signing off for now.**


	2. Teachers

_**Sup, I'm back with another installment of this thing. Yup, I already know that it's been a while since I last updated Angel's and Hunters, but I'm currently working on like three different projects right now, that one included. Eventually, I will get the next chapter out, as for when? That is a completely different story.**_

 _ **Review wise, thank you guest reviewer for your input and I do completely acknowledge my mistake in not getting Ozpin to talk about his mistake. As for** **Glynda, meh, she deserved it.**_

 ** _Disclaimers, XCom is owned by Firaxis and RWBY is owned by RT. Blah Blah Blah. Let's go._**

 **Update 12/14/2019: Again, more expansion on this chapter just to make it a bit more inline with the rest of the story.**

* * *

It was early in the morning when Gabriel woke up. Four in the morning to be exact. Why did he wake up at four in the morning? Because he had to make breakfast. Why did he have to make breakfast at four in the morning? Simple. Teaching required one to get up early in the morning, so he did, making himself and Angela, who got up with him, as her classes were also in the morning, over-easy eggs, pancakes, toast and bacon strips for breakfast. Yum.

"So… what do we have on the go today?" Angela asked.

"Other than teaching, you mean?" Gabriel retorted, "Nothing much. I mean, whaddya really expect? We're teachers now."

"Maybe some time to… you know, do something like practice?" Angela said, chomping on one of her bacon strips.

Gabriel chuckled and said, "Really, practice. That's what you wanted time for? Really?"

"Oh, come on!" Angela said, "It's not like I don't spend more than enough time with you!"

Gabriel chuckled and said, "And where's the proof of that?"

"The proof?" Angela said, gesturing at her belly, "The proof is in there somewhere!"

Gabriel leaned in and kissed his wife as they both continued to eat breakfast. Silence held them for a few more minutes before Angela asked, "So… whaddya think of the Wizard of Oz?"

"You mean Ozpin?" Gabriel asked, to which Angela replied with another head nod, "He's… interesting to say the least. Plays his game close to his chest. No idea about this Maiden bull crap as of yet, but other than all the shit I just listed, he's pretty ok."

 _Flashback…_

 _"_ _And also, one more thing before you go."_

 _Gabriel and the rest of Alpha turned to face Ozpin and Glynda. Ozpin slyly grinned._

 _"What's your favourite fairy tale?"_

 _End of Flashback..._

"Heh," Angela said, "Of course you think that he's ok."

"Of course," Gabriel replied, sipping his coffee, "Well, I am a good leader, correct?"

Angela laughed, "That's true enough. You haven't fucked us up yet."

"Or have I?" Gabriel retorted.

Angela's face went red and she smacked Gabriel in the face. As Gabriel fell down clutching his face, as Angela said, "Really?! Look, that's just wrong!"

"Ok, ok, ok. I understand that I was wrong making that joke," Gabriel said, rubbing his cheek,

"So, anything you wanna do this morning?"

"Practice seems good," Angela replied, "Bo staff practice specifically."

"Fuck it, fine," Gabriel said, "We'll do Bo staff. For you."

* * *

 _Eight thirty, Team RWBY Dorm..._

"So, what's our first class of the day?" Ruby energetically asked her team.

"Ruby, I believe I have told you around seventeen times already," Weiss responded, "It's with that new guy, Gabriel Owen. Apparently, he is doing something called Combat Situations. Dunno what that means."

"Combat situations?" Yang asked, "Sounds fun!"

After a few more minutes of walking, the group reached the classroom. From inside, they heard the sounds of combat, primarily the sound of something striking another object. Entering, they saw a shirtless Gabriel wielding a staff with a curved blade at the end (Naginata) and fighting several Atlesian knights off, who all wielded stun Batons.

Yang saw him and whistled, "Daaamn. He's ripped as fuck… I mean, look at those guns…"

"Yang, stop oggeling over the teacher," Blake said, barely looking up from her book. When she did, she said, "Ok, never mind. Oggel away."

"Look at those scars…" Ruby said, looking at the many scars on Gabriel's sides and back, "How did he survive those?"

Weiss's eyes were also focused on the scars, "Some of those look pretty severe… You're right, Ruby, how did he survive them?"

"He almost didn't," Angela said, coming up from behind them, "Had me worried for the better part of the time he was in recovery."

"How'd it happen?" Yang asked, turning to the older woman.

"Well, the big one on the back happened when he charged a Berserker Omega," Angela said, "Fucker got him right after he charged at it with nothing but a machete. No armour, nothing but the machete and his average street clothes. After it got him, he stood back up and stabbed it through the head. After that, I never let him charge one of 'em alone."

"What about the one on his arm?" Ruby asked.

"The one on the right or the left?" Angela replied.

"Umm… both?"

"The one on his right arm happened when an energy bolt hit him. Barely grazed him, but he lost all feeling in his arm for a week. I had to… help him out, if you catch my drift," Angela said, earning a surprised look from Yang and Blake, who both went red as a beet from the innuendo, "The one on his left came from a sonofabitch impaling him with one of their godforsaken spiny-ass legs on one of our first missions. Would've died if I hadn't shot it point blank and turned its head into mush. I had to drag him back to the skyranger."

"Oh…" Ruby said timidly, "It sounds like you guys have been through a lot together…"

"Sure have," Angela replied, "Almost too much. Dunno what I would've done if he'd have gotten himself killed… Dunno if I could live without him, to be honest…"

Weiss then asked, "Are you two…"

"Married?" Angela finished, then she patted her belly and continued, "Yes, and expecting a new addition to the family soon."

"YOU'RE PREGNANT?!" Ruby squealed, "ohmygoshwhatareyougonnanamethemisitaboyoragirlohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!"

Angela playfully chuckled, "Dunno what we're gonna name them when they do come out, but… I always did like the name Jane. If its a boy, Gabe wants to name him Aaron."

"THAT'S SO AWESOME!" Ruby squealed again.

"Really, it is," Weiss said, "Congratulations"

"I think you'll make great parents," Blake said.

"Thank you," Angela responded, smiling.

CLANG!

The five women looked over to see Gabriel standing over a decapitated Atlesian Knight-130, the head balancing on the blade of his Naginata. He looked up at them and sarcastically said, "What're you girls looking at?"

"Nothing!" the four girls of team RWBY replied quickly.

"Oh, they were just ogling over you and your muscles," Angela said nonchalantly.

"Muscles? Me?" Gabriel said while flexing, "You always said I looked like a spaghetti noodle."

"A thick spaghetti noodle," Angela corrected, "Actually, more like a bridge cable."

"Comparing apples to oranges, aren't we?" Gabriel said.

"So, why you kids here so early?" He asked as he turned his attention to the girl's of team RWBY, "Practice?"

"Umm… no," Weiss replied, "We just wanted to make a good impression on our new teachers."

Gabriel got a surprised look on his face and said, "Well, consider me getting quite the impression. I find that it's quite uncommon for teens to want to get up anywhere earlier than ten in the morning."

"Really?!" Angela cried, "Back when we were their age, you got up at four in the morning to go to the gym with Strike-Commander Reyes! Like, seriously! You did that Workout Regime from Hell on the daily! Don't gimme that shit about you sleeping in!"

"I said it's uncommon, not unknown," Gabriel retorted, "Besides, I had to whip myself into shape."

"Excuse me, what is that 'Workout Regime from Hell' you guys are talking about?" Yang asked.

"Only the most intense workout you've ever done," Gabriel said, "It involves doing ten reps of one-hundred chin-ups with two twenty pound weights strapped to your legs. Then you moved on to a ten Kilometer run with a good one hundred pounds on your back. If you didn't finish it in half an hour, Reyes would make you do it again until you finished. Finally, we finished off with target practice with our weapon of choice."

"Sounds tough," Weiss commented.

"Oh, it was," Angela replied, "And even after Reyes died, Gabriel kept the tradition going. Every single new recruit went through it. At least until the Commander made us stop it. She thought it was too brutal of a training regimen for the newbies so Gabey here cut it down a bit for 'em. Still, he did it just about every week or so for the past twenty years. I'm actually surprised he didn't do it today or anything. Just Bo staff practice."

It was then that Team RWBY sat down on some of the bleachers that surrounded the arena. Weiss then asked, "So, what does combat situations mean?"

Gabriel looked at her and said, "You'll just have to wait and see, now won't you?"

* * *

It was nine o'clock now, and the rest of the students had already filed into the classroom. Gabriel and Angela stood at the head of the classroom, Gabriel wearing a red golf-shirt and track pants. Angela was wearing a blue blouse and jeans. Once everyone was settled down and ready to learn, Gabriel said, "Welcome to Combat Situations. My name is Gabriel Owen and I'll be your Professor for the remainder of your time present in this classroom. Now, that being said, I would appreciate a certain level of respect from you to me. Show me that, and I will reciprocate it back to you."

"Some of you are probably also what, 'What the hell does this man mean by "Combat Situations?" What does that even mean?' Well, let me explain," Gabriel continued, "Simply, in this classroom, arena, whatever you wish it called, you will all learn adaptability in a variety of situations. You will learn how to change strategy based on different rule sets, different advantages or disadvantages, different limitations, positions and roles and so on. For example, today."

"Today's class will see each of you, in your teams, sparing me, using nothing but your weapons in their melee configuration. That means no using the sniper function on your sniper/scythe," A depressed look from Ruby appeared, "Sorry kid, that was just the easiest one to remember. Secondly, no Semblances allowed in this fight. Period. If I so much as think you are using your semblance, you will be sat down and will not participate in the remainder of the class. This goes for all of the specific classes rules, any day, regardless."

"Sounds like teach is scared," A voice from the back said.

Everyone turned to look at a relaxed Cardin Winchester, sitting with his legs up alongside the rest of his team. Gabriel asked, "And how, might I enquirer, am I scared, Cardin?"

"Well, it's obvious," Cardin replied, "You don't wanna fight us at full power so instead you're weakening us. I mean really if I really wanted I could…"

BANG!

Angela had pulled out Darkclaw and fired a single blank round at the ceiling. Everyone seemed taken back by her action as she holstered the pistol. She then said, "Well, if you're so confident in your abilities, why not demonstrate them to the class? Unless you are scared of course."

Cardin was again taken back by the threat/challenge issued by the woman up front. He quickly gestured to his team, who all got up and rushed to the change room. Gabriel, on the other hand, stood in the middle of the arena with his old fusion blade in his hand, it's dim blue edge glowing in the light. In around five minutes, Team CRDL has already gotten me into their combat attire and stood on the edge of the arena, looking quite timid.

"Now that you are all here, let me explain the rules," Gabriel began, "Your goal is quite simple. Win. You cannot use your semblance or any ranged weaponry at your disposal. To make this a tad bit fairer, and because I don't know if I would kill you using Katana, as I am not sure whether or not it ignores Aura, I will only use this."

"So cool…" Ruby muttered softly, "I want one."

"Ready?" Angela shouted, pulling out Darkclaw again.

"GO!" Angela shouted again, shooting another blank out of the pistol. Almost instantly, Russel was on top of Gabriel, ready to end the fight as soon as it started.

Gabriel had differing ideas about that. Bringing his fusion blade up to block the knife strikes, Gabriel smirked as Russel quickly lost confidence in his strategy. Gabriel then palm struck him in the gut and sent Russel flying back with enough force to send the rest of the team tumbling like bowling pins.

"Rushing in with no plans whatsoever," Gabriel said, "Not the best idea, especially against someone who has been a practitioner and master of every form of ass kickery ever invented."

Dove and Sky growled simultaneously and charged at Gabriel. Again, Gabriel smirked at the clear lack of planning that the teens put into the fight. Side-stepping a thrust by Sky and grabbing the halberd shaft, Gabriel quickly flipped the younger boy over his shoulder and wrenched the spear from Sky. Flipping his fusion blade into a reverse grip, Gabriel blocked an overhand strike by Dove, only to promptly use the blunt end of the halberd to knock Dove clean into unconsciousness. Flipping the halberd back, Gabriel stabbed it clean through the floor and impaled Sky's shirt to the ground. Then it was two, only Cardin and the teacher.

"Give up yet?" Gabriel asked, "Not too late to surrender, y'know."

"Surrender?!" Cardin said, "NEVER!"

Gabriel shrugged and replied, "Your loss."

With a gruntle war-cry, Cardin charged Gabriel, swinging his mace wildly in all directions. Gabriel skillfully dodged the mace, performing a backflip over one strike and sliding under the next, barely giving Cardin any time to react to the blazing speed employed by the master Ranger. A slash by Gabriel on Cardin's back caused the boy to cry in pain and go down on one knee. A second strike dropped Cardin, who still screamed in pain from the searing hot plasma making contact with his aura.

"So, you give?" Gabriel asked calmly, resting the backside of the blade on his shoulder.

"Fine, FINE, FINE!" Cardin yelled, "You win, I give!"

As Cardin got up along with the rest of his team to head back to the changeroom, Gabriel turned to the rest of the class and asked, "So, can anyone tell me what exactly Team CRDL did wrong in that fun little sparring lesson?"

The class remained silent for a few seconds before Angela asked, "Anyone? No?"

It was then that Pyrrha raised her hand to answer, "I believe Cardin and his team was too overconfident of their abilities, ma'am."

"Exactly," Gabriel said, pride gleaming on his face, "Could you tell me any specifics?"

"Well, he was too focused on making himself look good, and rather than form a cohesive strategy. Also, CRDL just rushed into a fight expecting it to be over in their favour," Pyrrha replied, "They also underestimated your abilities by a great amount."

"Exactly correct!" Gabriel said, "One of the first things you should learn in fighting is that you are not the best, not by a long shot."

When everyone gave him a confused look, Gabriel continued, "When going into a fight, you should always assume you are at a disadvantage. Assume the person is a better tactician, stronger, faster, has more durability, etc. Prepare for the worst possible outcome, where you are outmatched in every single way. Only then will you be able to overcome any obstacle put in your way. Now, enough with the old Chinese proverbs or whatever that lecture was, Team JNPR, get ready for your round in the ring!"

* * *

The rest of the class had gone quite well, all things considered. The remainder of the teams went up to spar with Gabriel and went down in a similar fashion as Team CRDL. Defeated by the psionic super soldier in any number of ways. Each of the teams knew what they were getting themselves into when Gabriel called them up, seeing as how Aura only seemed to hold a few hits against the so-called fusion blade.

"Alright," Gabriel said, sheathing his fusion blade, "Y'all did surprisingly well today. Seeing as how most of you rely on your superpowers and ranged attacks to win engagements, you will all need to learn how to fight when you don't have those at your disposal. Class dismissed, you all did well."

As everyone exited the classroom, one person stayed behind. That one person was Ruby, who was still in awe with Gabriel's sword. As soon as the rest of the class had exited, Ruby rushed over in a flurry of rose petals and said, "Where can I get one?"

Gabriel gave her a confused look and asked, "Whaddya mean 'Where can I get one'?"

"I want one of those things to upgrade Crescent Rose!" Ruby replied, "One of those… whatever they are."

"Fusion blades," Angela replied.

"Yeah, I wanna upgrade Crescent Rose with fusion blades! Do they come in red, though?"

Gabriel chuckled and patted Ruby's head, "I dunno if you could upgrade Crescent Rose with one of these bad boys. At least, I don't know enough about them to be able to help you. Darren might, he is our weapons expert after all. Knowing him, he's probably familiarizing himself with the forge areas across campus, so check there."

"Ok!" Ruby said, rushing off. Leaving the two agents standing and stewing in their thought.

Gabriel scratched his chin, "This is uncanny. You get the feeling too, right?"

"Yeah, I do," Angela whispered, "Similar mannerisms, enthusiasm. Everything really. They look like…"

"Twins. I know," Gabriel finished his wife's sentence, "You think that…"

"Maybe, maybe not," the sharpshooter said, "She's the right age, if Glynda's word was anything to go by."

"In that case, get Anne to run a background search on her family," Gabriel instructed, "Find anything that would like the two. Everything short of a DNA test, if we could even run one."

"I'll let her know," Angela replied.

As the two made for the door of the room, Gabriel's scroll that he and the rest of Alpha had received the night prior rang, "Well, well, well. Look who wants to chat."

"Who is it?"

"Well, I'll give you a hint," Gabriel said, "Silver-haired headmaster. Ring any bells?"

"Assuming you mean Oz, right?" Angela said, to which Gabriel nodded, "What the heck does he want?"

"Apparently he wants me and you to meet one of his colleagues," Gabriel said, "Name's General James Ironwood, bigshot from Atlas. Head of the world's military, among other things. Dunno why exactly he wants us, but I guess we'll find out. Said we can meet up later tonight, around eight thirty."

* * *

Ruby had been running at top speed for the better part of five minutes, trying her ass off to find the weapons expert of Alpha, Darren. Of course, the forge area was huge, containing enough area for almost every single student to forge and upgrade their weapons at the same time. Dashing around, Ruby quickly used her semblance to avoid a man at one of the workbenches, who just so happened to be Darren.

"Oh so sorry!" Ruby said as she rushed past, "Oh… hello Darren!"

Darren chuckled, "Hey kid, wassup? Got anything you need?"

Rubbing the back of her head, Ruby replied, "Umm… Gabriel told me you could help me with upgrading Crescent Rose… with one of those fusion blade thingys…"

"Really, didn't he?" Darren chuckled, "Of course he did. It's so like Gabe."

"So is that a yes?" Ruby asked eagerly, bouncing up and down.

"Well…" Darren replied, pausing and causing Ruby to use her puppy eyes, "Jesus Christ, those things should be illegal. Alrighty, fine, I'll help you. Come on, let's get to a table."

Once the two had gotten to a table, Darren said, "So, the first thing you have to know about these things is that they're really hot. Though come to think of it, if you fought Gabe earlier you probably already know that."

"Yeah…" Ruby said, thinking back to the time she was hit by the searing blade in class. Lucky Gabriel had toned down the heat, so it only gave her a bit of red skin, nothing too serious.

"Well," Darren said, "That's simply because this boy is basically a metallic core heated with plasma, encased in a micro-thin magnetic field. These bad boys can get so hot, they can melt through practically anything in just about no time. Except Tungsten. Tungsten takes to long. Hey kid, wanna know a fact about Tungsten?"

Ruby looked up and asked, "What?"

"If you put Tungsten into lava, the Tungsten will retain its shape and not melt," Darren said, "Cool right? Anyway, to make it, we'll need to modify your weapon a bit. Could you…"

Before Darren could finish his sentence, Ruby had already unsheathed her massive seven-foot tall scythe and laid it on the workbench in front of them. Darren, who was a bit startled, said, "Ok then. So, the first thing we're going to have to do is remove the blades. Once that's done, we can get the dimensions of the blades and we can see the amount of area we have to work with."

"And then?" Ruby asked, eagerly awaiting the response.

Darren nodded and continued explaining, "Well once we're done with that, we have to make the magnetic stabilizers and get those put in. Hopefully in somewhere convenient for you so can still use in your own way. After that, we need to find a place to set the Elerium core power cell so that the plasma is actually heated to the needed point to make the blade effective."

"What's Elerium?" Ruby asked, looking confused.

"It's an Element from another world," Darren said, pulling an Elerium core out of the briefcase where he stored them all, "It was first referred to as element 115 and was later dubbed Elerium by Dr. Vahlen when she conducted extensive research on it way back when. It's a perpetual power source that's artificially made and can produce a nearly limitless amount of energy."

"Whaddya mean, nearly limitless?" Ruby asked again, "Isn't limitless just limitless?"

"Well, the thing is, Elerium produces a butt tonne of energy, true, but its not infinite," Darren replied, "It has a limit to how much energy it can make at once. For example, around three of these guys could power Beacon forever, unto rapture and whatnot, but not much more. They have a limit, but they supply the amount of power for just about ever."

"Cool!" Ruby said, "Now, let's get started on this thing!"

"Let's," Darren replied as the two began to work vigorously on improving Crescent Rose to the greatest of their abilities.

* * *

( _ **AN: Please Note: In this Dream, She is used in place of someone. This viewing from the person who is labelled She.)**_

 _A ruined city. Nothing too special, when one comes to think of it. Except for the zombies. The zombies made it quite special. Not in a good way though._

 _"What the hell are these things?" she muttered as she cut down another zombie with a slice to the head, bisecting it, "I'm still not even sure what they are. They look like fucking zombies."_

 _After sliding down the last of the zombies, she rested herself against one of the walls in the room, wincing in pain as she cradled her injured arm. She said to herself, "God damn it… this fucking hurts. I should've been more careful with those fuckers…"_

 _Suddenly, almost out of nowhere, she heard from the streets below something rustling. Looking out over the street, she saw four figures moving around, efficiently removing any of the zombies that came within their path. The obvious leader of the group wielded a shotgun and machete, which was strapped to his back. Any of the zombies that got near him were cut down with such speed and precision, he might have been a trained huntsman._

 _The red-haired woman on his right had a sniper rifle about half the size of her strapped to her back while she wielded a revolver with deadly accuracy. Any zombie in her sight line had its head imploded by the high impact bolts from the guns._

 _Another man, on the left of the first man, wielded a massive triple-barreled minigun. He seemed to spray his bullets into the biggest groups of the oncoming hordes and completely wiped them with the hail of bullets that came spewing forth from his gun._

 _The final person, a woman who stood on the left of the minigun-wielding man, herself had a drone companion and an assault rifle. She had trained her weapon on some of the loner zombies who had strayed from the main group._

 _"God fucking damn it," the shotgunner said, "How many more of these fucking things are there?"_

 _"Apparently too many," the sniper said, "And we aren't even close to clearing this place out."_

 _"Wait, we're trying clear this entire town out?" the minigunner asked, "I thought we were just trying to find a small place to move our camp too."_

 _"No, of course not a twit. I swear, I'm dating an idiot," the drone user said, "We're just looking for survivors. That's all we're doing here. We're not staying any longer than we have to."_

 _"Hey!" the minigunner retorted, "I'm no idiot! I just thought it would be a good idea to set up in the place where Advent would be least likely to look for us!"_

 _"Can it, you two," shotgunner said, "As Anne said, all we're doing is trying to locate any civilians and evacuate them from the area."_

 _The four began to walk the building she was hiding in, each still holding their weapons in a position to fire. When they entered, the woman named Anne said, "Hold up, we got something."_

 _"Yeah we do," her husband said, "These Lost look like fresh kills. Probably from a sword or something."_

 _"Who the hell still uses swords?" the redhead said, earning a disdained look from the shotgunner, "What?"_

 _"Oh, just the 'Who the hell uses swords' comment. I do and you love it!" the shotgunner said, "What? Can't a guy make fun of his girlfriend?"_

 _"No, he can't," the redhead replied, "Now, we gotta spread out and find whoever this survivor is. They can't have gone to…"_

 _"Found something!" the shotgunner said, "Looks like blood. Human blood. Judging by the amount and wetness, I'd say they're still in the building somewhere."_

 _Barely a second after he said that, the four heard a thud as their mysterious watcher fell flat on the floor, far too tired to stay standing. After all, she had been bleeding for the past hour out of a multitude of wounds. Lucky for the woman, her psionics had made quick work of the more severe wounds, leaving just scratches and some of the smaller wounds that she patched up by ripping her cape apart and tying them up._

 _"Jeez, look at this lass," the shotgunner said, "You ok?"_

 _"I… I dunno…" she replied as Anne walked over to her and propped her up against the wall, pulling out a medikit and administering some healing foam, "I… think so?"_

 _"Lady, you are not ok," Anne said, "Still, even with the blender you went through, you seemed to have healed remarkably quickly."_

 _"Thanks… I guess," she said, "They still do hurt…"_

 _The shotgunner chuckled and said, "Well, even with how good you are at this, seeing as how you killed a good number of lost with nothing but a sword, you're still gonna need a place to stay. Preferably outside the city centers. And since we're here, I say we make some room in our camp and get you settled in for the time being."_

 _She smiled a genuine smile, as the minigunner holstered the massive gun and used his old Exo suit to pick her up bridal style and she replied, "Thanks… by the way, I would_ _like to know the names of the people who saved me."_

 _"No problem," the sniper said, "My name's Angela Aurora, my dip-shit of a boyfriend is Gabriel Owen…"_

 _"HEY!"_

 _"The guy carrying you is Darren Yip and the gal with the meds is Anne-Marie Rayne. What about you?"_

 _She looked a the rest of the group and replied, "My name is…"_

* * *

 _The Avenger… Three days after Alpha Squad disappeared…_

 **Knock Knock**

"Coming."

To say The Commander was depressed would be a depressingly large understatement. A really large understatement. Firstly, from a standpoint of a military commander, she lost some of her best soldiers in the war. Secondly, she lost what was effectively her only family here. A decade ago, she appeared here, unsure of how she arrived and unsure of how to leave and go home. She had been taken in by them, protected by the four elite soldiers, given a home.

And now they were gone.

Without a single trace, the four who had risked so much to ensure her safety and survival, all at a risk to their own, had vanished. Almost in the same way she did from her own home when she came here, to this world.

The Commander opened the door, she saw Central Officer Bradford, whom she always called Bradley for whatever reason. When she saw him, she asked, "Anything new?"

Bradford shook his head in dismay and said, "Sorry Commander… we've tried everything. Volk, Betos, the Reapers and the Skirmishers have scoured the area for any signs of them. Geist and the Templars are trying their damnedest to find any of their psionic presences… they've found nothing."

The Commander looked down, tears forming in her eyes. It's how she acted whenever any of the soldiers under her command died. She took complete responsibility for every single one who fell by her orders. Bradford put his hand on her shoulder and said, "But I do have some good news, Commander. You'll probably want to hear it."

"Whaddya mean, Bradford?" The Commander asked.

"Well, it's about what happened with Alpha," Bradford said, "Tygan may have found something interesting linking their situation to yours."

Nodding, The Commander and Bradford began to walk to the Shadow Chamber located in the heart of the Avenger, both literally and metaphorically. As they entered, they saw Dr. Tygan and Lily Shen, more commonly referred to as simply Shen, standing at one of the consoles in the purple coloured room. When Tygan noticed them enter the room, he said, "Oh. Hello Commander. Welcome back to the Shadow Chamber."

"I know," she replied, "Skip the formalities, get to the juicy details."

"Alrighty then," Shen said, rolling her eyes, "Well, I recovered Anne's ten-year-old GREMLIN from the quarters. Y'know, just wanting to see what data they had stored on it and all. So I went digging through some of the files and…"

"And?" The Commander asked.

"Well… umm… I'm not really sure what I found," Shen said, "I found this encrypted file entitled 'Commander's arrival' or something like that. What was even stranger is that it dates back a decade. And then when I handed it over to Tygan here… well… I think it's best if he tells you."

Tygan then began, "When surfing through the contents of the file, I was directed to a single string of data. I personally didn't understand it at the time, however, I began to slowly make sense of the enclosed information."

"You see," Tygan continued, "The data collected by the drone shows a spatial and temporal anomaly occurring in the ruin you were found in. Not only that but looking at a map of the area, the anomalous readings were recorded directly on top of the building you were found in. And delving further into this mystery, I discovered that, by reverse engineering the anomaly that happened then, and the one that I'm most likely guessing to have happened when Alpha disappear, we could theoretically open a wormhole, or as I like to call it, a rift, to another world."

The Commander's eyes shot open, "You're kidding me, right? You've got to be kidding me. Please tell me you aren't kidding me, Tygan, please."

"I'm not. Though it is still only a theory, and I doubt that we have the necessary materials on hand to create a fully functioning rift, it still has potential to become something revolutionary," Tygan concluded, setting down his datapad.

"And how much would this cost us exactly?" Bradford asked.

"We're still trying to find a solid number," Shen said, "But right now, I'm guessing it to be somewhere between a lot of resources and way more than what we have right now on the Avenger. Maybe if we pull some money from favours and get the other Resistance factions to pitch in a bit, we could have it in the bag, but as it stands, we don't have enough resources. Hell, I don't even know how we could power something like a rift."

"Thoughts Commander?" Bradford asked, "The decision is up to you."

"Well, as much as it would put us back," she replied, "I do think it would be a worthy investment. Besides, why not? We have nothing to lose."

"Yet," She thinks to herself before walking out of the Shadow Chamber with Bradford, leaving Shen and Tygan to think about how the hell to come up with this portal.

* * *

 _Ozpin's office…_

"So Ozpin, Glynda, let me get this straight. You two told four complete strangers about our current predicament with the maidens. AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ABOUT THIS?!"

"Calm yourself, James," Ozpin replied, resting his hand on his head, "They are capable warriors and probably our best shot in our fight against Salem."

"Really? REALLY?" James Ironwood yelled, slamming his metal arm into the table with enough force to dent the metal, "How do you know they aren't working with her?"

The elevator then dinged as the sliding doors slowly opened, revealing the entirety of Alpha squad standing in full combat gear, what with their weapons attached to their bodies. Gabriel looked at the assembled hunters and said, "Ozpin. Glynda. James. Good to see you again and/or meet you. Now, onto the reason why you called us here."

"Very to the point, right?" Glynda teased.

"He gets very serious when it comes to people's safety," Angela replied, "And from what we've learned, this situation is no different."

"Good, so you know some of the stakes," James said, "Then you might also understand why I'm not exactly completely on board with this… arrangement."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Darren said, "We completely understand if you aren't totally on board with the idea of four nearly complete strangers just showing up and beginning to help you. But trust us when we say that we've dealt with situations like this before. And we have won."

"And what, exactly, did you win against?" Ironwood asked.

Anne looked at Glynda and Ozpin, confused at their actions of not telling Ironwood what exactly they fought. Ozpin then said, "We thought it best for you to explain your… predicament."

Anne nodded in understanding, before she said, "Well, in that case, guess we gotta explain. Alrighty so, we're from another planet known as Earth. Said planet came under attack from what other than extraterrestrials or aliens for an unknown reason at the time. The attacks began with pods dropping into major cities around the globe, some Sectoids landing with them, causing some panic and mind controlling civilians. Just generally causing a shit show."

"We specifically came into the war a week after the initial invasion when a psi-bomb was dropped on our town. A town of five thousand people, each with their own lives, hopes and dreams," Gabriel said, "They were all dead in an instant. Every single living thing in the town, gone. We only survived by some fucking miracle that was completely unheard of at the time and has yet to be replicated. Rather than dying we… we…"

"We absorbed it… ate it all like sponges…" Angela continued, "Stayed in the town for a few days. None of us were really sure of what to do, other than survive. We were all good friends before the bomb, but after? After those few days, we were like family and a close one at that. Then, around a week after the bomb dropped, we were picked up by Xcom, Earth's extraterrestrial combat unit. Specifically, a man by the name of Gabriel Reyes, the commander of Xcom at the time, who landed in the town and picked us up. A week after that, we joined Xcom at seventeen."

"Seventeen," James said, "You said you joined a military operation at seventeen years old. And they let you?"

Darren shrugged, "Eh. They needed people, we were willing to fight, so we did. Not a big problem."

"You were seventeen though. You were children," Ironwood said again, confused at the complete nonchalantly speech about a war that Darren used.

"Your point?" Darren replied, "You practically enlist people into these schools which are effectively military boot camps at ages fifteen plus. Please, indulge us into how we are any different?"

"Gentlemen," Ozpin said, resting his hand on his forehead, "Please stop arguing. We are on the same side."

"Right," Gabriel replied, "So the reason why you actually brought us here. What was it?"

"Ah. That," Ozpin replied, bringing up a holographic image of an Atlesian Paladin, "You see, Atlas has been hard at work constructing a new mech suit to use in combat against the Grimm. This, the Paladin, was their most up to date and successful attempt at doing so. Unfortunately, the prototypes were stolen."

"Judging by the data we have available to us, these things weigh in at just a bit over five meters tall. How the fuck did you go and get losing one of those things?" Anne asked as she skimmed the information she got on her scroll.

"That we don't know," Ozpin replied, "And furthermore, we have no idea about where it went."

"Any ideas as to who could possibly be behind it?" Gabriel asked, "I mean, you gotta have some massive crime lord who would love to get their hands on one of those things."

"As a matter-a-fact, we do have some suspects," Ironwood said as he brought up some images,

"These pictures are of a notorious criminal named Roman Torchwick. While we don't know it's him, we do have some evidence, such as him trying to rob a dust shipment earlier this past month with the help of the White Fang. If you could detain him for questioning, that would be helpful."

"Seems doable," Darren said, "Anything else you need us to do?"

"If you could bring the Prototype back in one piece, that would be lovely," Ironwood replied.

"Dunno if we will be able to manage that if the mission gets FUBAR, but we can try," Gabriel replied, "Alrighty, we'll keep our ears open. General, Headmaster, Professor. Have a good night."

* * *

 _ **Yup, that is it. Anything you think I did wrong, less than stellar or otherwise, Please let me know in the reviews. If there is anything I need to work on, again please let me know. I need to know my mistakes and faults so I can produce better works in the future.**_

 _ **Until next time, see you all! This is Narsauce, signing off.**_


	3. The Mech and the Gem

**_Hello again, I'm back doing this thing that I do. Posting another chapter of this thing. Have at it._**

 ** _Now, this is actually important. This chapter will delve into some... questionable... and borderline abusive content. Read at your own peril among other things._**

 ** _Finally, I own jack diddly squat of either of these two franchises, though I wish I did._**

* * *

As annoying as Ironwood was, he did have a point. A point that basically described any and everyone as possible enemies. But to Alpha, he was wrong on one very crucial portion of his ideas. While everyone could be a potential enemy they could also, in the right hands, be potential allies. They learned this from the Skirmishers, once the frontline of Advent's aggressive campaign against any form of resistance to the oppressive rule they imposed, now freedom fighters waging war against the overlords they once fought for with such tenacity and vigor.

Oh, how times and alliances can change.

Angela chuckled as she thought to herself those exact words during a round of target practice in the Combat situations class around a week after their conversation with the general. Each student had taken a basic slug thrower, ranging from pistols to fully fledged fifty caliber Berrets, from the Beacon storerooms and had begun laying down magazine after magazine into the targets at the other side of the room. Of course, some were more consistent than others, Ruby hitting bullseyes more often then she had to reload, whereas Yang liked going for meatshots with a double-barreled shotgun. Jaune was on the other end of the spectrum, where he almost could handle the recoil of a semi-auto assault rifle and reliably hit shots.

As the class neared its end, Anne called out to the kids, "Ok. You all did very well today. Most of you hit your targets with relative ease. You could all use a little work on hitting what is asked, whether it is a shot to disable or to kill, but that's for another day. At least you can all handle guns well enough. Class dismissed."

The students all nodded, picking up their bags and exited the classroom. Ann e then turned to Angela and said, "Did you notice anything… off about Blake today? I mean, she's not the most active, but she looked tired and completely out of it."

"Yeah, I saw it," Angela replied, "What your point?"

"You think something's wrong?" Anne asked, sorta worried for Blake's health.

"Sort of," Angela replied, "I mean seriously, she does look a bit tired, maybe a bit out of it. But I don't think that it's anything we have to look out for."

"Really?" Anne said, "Could we at least go talk to her? See if there actually is anything wrong? Cause I'd prefer to not have our students feeling like crap all the time."

Angela sighed and put her hand to her face, "Fine, we can go and talk to her. Just don't expect her to actually divulge anything. She's a teen after all."

"Thanks Angie!" Anne said, slapping her friends shoulder playfully. "You wont regret it, major!"

The two got up out of their seats and walked to the front of the classroom doors, locking the doors behind them. As they walked off to Team RWBY's dorm, Angela received a call on her scroll, which the group had received from Ozpin earlier, from Gabriel. She picked it up and said, "Hey hon. Whats up?"

"Just been reviewing some stuff," he replied, "You know, trying to figure out who the hell stole that god damn mech. Found some promising leads. Meet up with me and Darren back at residences and we can discuss it."

"Sure, we'll be there soon," Angela replied, "Anne just wanted to go see if anything was wrong with Blake."

"Oh, really?" Gabriel asked, "What's going on?"

"Dunno, but she's been pretty out of it the last few days, right?" Angela said, "Guess we're gonna find out soon enough. See you guys soon."

"Okay, bye," Gabriel said as the line cut out.

"So, what did he want?" Anne asked.

"Just wanted to say that he had got some info on the missing Paladins. Nothing more," Angela replied, pocketing her scroll.

"Ah, well. We're almost here anyways," Anne said as the two entered the dorm hallway. Just before they were about to knock on the door, they heard the group speaking from the inside.

"Are we going to go in?"` Angela asked, "That is what you brought us here to…"

"Silencieux," Anne said, sticking her ear to the door, "I'm trying to listen in."

"Anne… are you spying on children?" Angela chuckled.

"Shush," Anne said, putting her finger to her lips, "I'm still trying to listen in."

"Fine, you keep spying on kids," Angela said, rolling her eyes.

After a few more minutes of listening in, Anne and Angela left the dorms, Anne shaking her head. Angela, being the one who didn't listen in on the the conversation, promptly asked, "So, whatcha hear?"

"Nothing good," Anne said, "Absolutely nothing good."

"How exactly is it nothing good?" Angela cocked her head and asked, "And what exactly do you mean by nothing good?"

"Well, first off, the little kids may be onto something. They think Torchwick and this group of Fanus extremists called the White Fang. 'Parently they caught the two working together to steal a shipment of Dust recently."

"And?"

Anne shrugged, "Well, they also apparently wanna know what their up to and they're trying to find a connection between Torchwick and the dust robberies that have been going on around the city. And on top of that, they're planning on going out tonight…"

"So? They're teenagers and highly trained warriors. They can handle themselves for one night."

"That's not what I meant, Angela, and you know it," Anne snarkelly replied, "I mean they're going out to investigate. And as teachers, their mentors, and most likely the only people willing to help them out, we have some sort of obligation to help. Plus, if we find Torchwick, we can probably fish some information out of him on where those damn mechs went."

"Huh," Angela replied, "Actually, that's a good idea. Lets see if we can organize anything with Gabe and Darren before we go along with it, though."

"Sure," Anne replied, "Let's see what les maris think about our little plan."

* * *

 _Alpha Squad's Beacon Residences…_

"Repeat that one more time please."

"This has been the tenth time, Gabriel," Angela said, "Not sure how much more clear I can make it."

"No no no. I understand what you're saying," Gabriel said, "But are those kids fucking stupid? That's suicide!"

"So was half the shit you and Reyes got us into," Darren commented, "So don't talk."

"He's right y'know," Anne said.

"Shut it, you two," Gabriel said, slightly annoyed, "They're kids. Untrained kids who have no experience in the real world. The simple fact that they think they can pull this stunt off is ludicrous and frankly, quite idiotic."

Angela rolled her eyes, "And why is that, oh fearless leader?"

"They're kids!" Gabriel practically screamed, "Isn't that reason enough to call what they're doing insane?!"

"We were kids. We were fighting a war at their age. Again, à quoi veux-tu en venir?" Anne asked.

"We didn't really have a choice, that's fucking what!" Gabriel shouted, "They have the choice to leave it up to the professionals. And they don't! And what's more, Ozpin, Ironwood, Glynda, none of the fucking teachers in this school seem to be aware that their students are going after a fucking terrorist cell! Either that, or they're just letting it happen. And I'm not sure which is worse!"

"Probably the second one," Anne said.

"Exactly! We can't be like that!" Gabriel shouted again, slumping in one of the free chairs, "Fuck that, I won't let us be like that."

Darren cocked his eyebrow and asked, "So are we going to do anything?"

"Of course we are!" Gabriel shouted, "I mean seriously. We know about them and their plan, now it would just be irresponsible for us to do nothing. Besides, it might help us get closer to those mechs."

"So, are we telling Ozpin about this little outing of ours or no?" Angela asked as she picked up Darklance.

"Depends on if we find anything of use. If we find any of those Paladins that our friendly Gerneral Ironwood lost, sure we'll let 'em know. If we don't… well we won't have to," Gabriel replied, shrugging, "We're also going to have a nice chat with Team RWBY once all is said and done."

"Wait, why?" the group of three confusedly asked.

"Lemme put it to you this way. They're doing something that is very, very dangerous, on their own, all the while not having asked for any help whatsoever. So yes, I do think there is a problem. And even more so, yes, I do think we should talk to them about it," Gabriel responded.

"Makes sense, I guess," Anne said, "We gonna talk to them tomorrow or tonight?"

"Tonight," Angela said, "It would be easier to talk to them once we get them out of whatever shit they're inevitably gonna get into."

"Alright," Darren said, "Anything else?"

"Before we get going, I'd like to discuss who we're going with," Gabriel said, "Anne, you follow Weiss and Ruby to the CCT, Angela and I will go on after Blake to the Fang meeting and Darren, you follow Yang on whatever little tangent she's going on to Junior's Bar downtown."

Anne sighed, "Seems fair enough, I guess."

"Alright, let's get suited up then," Angela said, getting up and going into her room to put on her Warden armour.

"Okay," Gabriel said, "Let's do it then."

* * *

 _Junior's bar… Three hours later…_

"Jesus," Darren said, gulping back another shot, "Is it just me, or can I not get drunk at all?"

"Dunno, bud, but you've been here for two hours and you've been drinking almost non-stop," the aforementioned Junior commented.

"Almost?" Darren scoffed, "Meh, this shit is like water. I could sit here and drink you outta stock."

"Really? Maybe I should get you something harder to drink," Junior chuckled, "But besides your obscene drinking habits, most people who come here are looking for information. So, you gonna be wanting some info?"

"Maybe in a bit," Darren said, leaning on the bar.

"Alright then, if you're not gonna be asking any questions, I gotta ask you something," Junior replied, "What's with the suit?"

"The suit?" Darren confusedly said, gesturing to the plate armor showing through his leather jacket, "Oh this little thing. It's just some body armor, better than the body armor the kids these days are wearing. Also lets me become a giant fucking wall."

"A wall?"

"Yep, just a giant fucking wall."

"Huh. Neat," Junior said, now gesturing to Ragnarok, "Now what's that?"

"Oh, that's my minigun, Ragnarok," Darren replied, "Best piece of hardware anyone's ever laid eyes on. Next to any other mingun, this thing makes 'em look like pea shooters by comparison."

"Oh really?"

"Want a demonstration?"

Junior nervously shook his head. The last thing he needed was a huntsman testing his weapon on the clubs henchmen. Seeing how just a month ago, a blonde brawler had lit his club up and tore it in two. Metaphorically and literally.

"No, prefer not," Junior mumbled, still sweating.

"Aw. But why?" Darren said, chuckling, "Scared I might break something?"

"Yup, something like that," Junior replied, "Just last month some blonde chick with an attitude came in here and tore the place apart like it was jelly."

"Heh," Darren laughed, "That's just hilarious, ain't it? A butt ton of fully grown men getting taken out by a girl with an attitude. Seems almost like one of those Animes that I used to watch."

"What's anime?" Junior quickly asked.

"The biggest and best acid trip you could ever go on, bud," Darren replied laxly, "To be honest, with the size and sheer impracticality of the weapons here, I thought we had landed smack dab in one."

"I'll take that as a compliment, then," Junior said as he went back to scrubbing the counter.

Just then, the massive doors to the club burst open and two of the guards ran inside, looking like they had just seen the devil himself pop up and consume the souls of the innocents around him. Quickly, the two pushed the doors closed again, panting heavily.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" Junior yelled at the two guards.

Darren could faintly make out the two of them shouting back, "She's here!", "She's back!" or something like that.

"Who!?" Junior asked.

Then the door exploded, putting dust up into the air, making it just about impossible to see anything.

"Guess who's back?" The familiar voice of Yang Xiao-Long rang throughout the crowd. And as soon as the blonde brawler entered, around a fuck ton of guns pointed directly at her face.

Darren sighed as he activated the earbud in his ear, giving him a comm line with the rest of the team. Quietly, he said, "We're gonna need to talk a bit more with Yang after this is done."

" _Why?"_ Anne questioned.

"Just… reasons," Darren replied.

" _What did she do?"_

"Lets just say that she blew open a door to this guy's bar," Darren replied.

" _Huh, alright,"_ Anne said, " _Guess we will have a bit more of a talk with her."_

"How's it going on your end?" Darren asked, keeping his voice down to avoid being noticed by Yang and Neptune.

" _It's going good,"_ Anne replied, " _Lost sight of Ruby for a few seconds, but Asimov found her a few blocks away, hiding from two Atlas soldiers in a trash can, funnily enough."_

"What about Weiss?"

" _Still in the CCT from what I know,"_ Anne replied, " _Of what I've heard of her conversation, she has some family troubles. 'Specially with her_ _père_ _. 'Parrently she has some difficult expectations to live up to. Being that she's the heiress to the SDC and all."_

Darren took another shot, "You gonna talk to her about it?"

" _Maybe, if she wants to. We both know how hard it is to live up to those impossibly high expectations set by a family member,"_ Anne replied cheekily, " _I mean, my parents forced me to learn the fiddle for crying out loud. They expected me to master it when I was eight."_

"Both our families were like that," Darren said, "I mean, mine were from Hong Kong."

" _Je sais je sais_ _. You checked in on Gabriel and Angela yet?"_

"Nah, they're fine. If they need us, they'll contact us."

Anne sighed, " _J'espère que tu as raison_ _."_

* * *

"God damn it all. I never should've said I'd do this."

"Well, you did. So don't go saying you're bored."

Gabriel sighed and sat back against one of the brick walls near himself and Angela, as she looked through the scope of Darklance, observing the White Fang meeting in the warehouse across the street. She was mainly focused on Blake and her companion, Sun.

"Huh, those two are doing a good job at blending in," Angela commented. Just then the tone of the faunus shifted, indicating to her the change of speakers. Angela shifted her view up at the podium to see none other than…

"Torchwick?"

"Huh?" Gabriel shot up and asked, "Wait, he's here?"

"Yup," Angela said, "Right up on the stage shouting and screaming at everyone below him. I think."

"Whaddya mean 'You think'? He either is or he isn't."

Angela tapped the side of her head, "I can't hear him, now can I?"

Gabriel shrugged, "Fair enough. I suppose you can't."

"Great. Now let me focus on this twit," Angela said as she zoomed in on Torchwick, "Hold up… the fuck is that thing behind him?"

"Umm, you mean that big thing covered by that massive sheet?" Gabriel said as he zoomed in on the covering with his binoculars, "I have no clue. It's too big to be anything… reasonable…"

"You think it's…?"

"Yup," Gabriel replied, "Yup I do. It's definitely one of those Paladin things."

"Wanna bet?" Angela snarkely asked.

"Nope," Gabriel said, "I'd win."

It was then that Torchwick pulled back the massive sheet, revealing the massive mech that it covered just moments before, it's sizable body out on display. The Paladin looked just like a prototype, being that it's big, cumbersome, unrefined, looked like a bi-pedal steel rectangle on legs and among other things, was probably not the most efficient thing ever.

"That thing looks so fucking ugly," Angela commented, "I mean, absolutely no style."

"Whaddya prefer, a Sectopod?"

"To be fair, no," Angela replied, "If they got their hands on a Sectopod, we'd all be royally fucked."

"Well, suffice to say we now know where the Paladins went. And who took 'em," Gabriel said, putting his binoculars back down, "Now all we gotta do is question the ever livin' shit outta him to find out who wanted 'em."

"You make it sound easy."

"That's cause it i…" the door to the rooftop suddenly opened and out poured three White Fang grunts. In less time than it takes to think, both Gabriel and Angela had spun on their heels, each firing a precise shot into the skull of two of the grunts, killing them instantaneously. The third charged forward, enraged in his comrades death.

"DIE, HUMAN SCUM!" the grunt screamed as he dove on the two Xcom agent, sword drawn and ready to kill. Gabriel had a different idea of the preceding events, however. Quicker than an eye could react, he drew Katana and sliced horizontally, bisecting the faunus at the waist and causing the upper half of the grunt to fly off the building, landing in a bloody splat on the ground.

"Shit…"

Almost as soon as the top half of the body hit the ground, a few more white fang grunts went to investigate, and quickly sounded the alarm. Nearly a second after, Blake and Sun leapt out of one of the windows on the lower floors of the warehouse, quickly followed by the stolen Paladin prototype.

"SHIT!" Gabriel cursed, "We gotta move. Now!"

"Couldn't think of a better idea," Angela replied as she strapped Darklance to her back, "Should I call 'em?"

"Yup!" Gabriel quickly said, "Yup. Yup. Yup. Good idea!"

The two began to sprint across the rooftops, keeping pace with the Paladin and the two students. As they sprinted, Angela pressed a button on her wrist cuff, bringing up some small screens on the HUD of her helmet, showing Darren and Anne.

"We got a problem, guys," Angela quickly said, "Paladin is on the move, we're tailing it right now. Call in for backup."

" _Je l'ai_ _,"_ Anne replied, " _I'm radioing 'em in. And I'm also tailing Weiss and Ruby."_

" _Yang's getting a call from Blake,"_ Darren called in, " _Dunno what it's about but… HOLY SHIT!"_

"Darren?! What's wrong?!" Gabriel shouted, as he leapt a across the space between two buildings, approximately twenty feet across, still tailing the Paladin. As he looked down, he saw Yang, Neptune and Darren, who had already started sprinting after the Paladin.

" _That's what fuckin' wrong!"_ Darren shouted back, " _Well, at least we know where Ironwoods fucking mechs are now!"_

"Guys, it's heading to the freeway!" Angela interrupted, "Anne, where the hell are you?!"

" _Coming!"_ Anne replied. Suddenly, Neptune leapt off of Yang's bike, stabbing the back of the Paladin. Of course, the Paladin quickly swung him off the side of the highway, sending him flying onto the lower levels of the freeway. Sun turned around, using his semblance to summon two copies of himself which rushed the Paladin. The two copies fared about as well as Neptune did, each being destroyed by the Paladin which smacked Sun off the freeway as well.

"Shit, these kids ain't faring well at all!" Gabriel said, "And yes, I know I'm Colonel Obvious."

" _Beat me by one second,"_ Darren called out, " _Wait, why in fucks name is Weiss standing in the middle of the highway!?"_

"Dunno, but…" Gabriel began to respond, only for Weiss to twirl in a pirouette and stab Myrtenaster into the ground, causing a massive sheet of ice to cover the highway. The Paladin tripped on sheet, sending it careening off the side of the side of the freeway onto one of the lower levels.

"Apparently that," Angela said, looking mildly impressed. All of the sudden, Weiss leapt off the side of the freeway, following the mech down, where she met up with the rest of her team at the bottom. Alpha quickly grouped up on the upper level and continued to look down on the four students.

"Angela, Anne, provide us with covering fire. Darren and I will head down to help them on the front lines," Gabriel said, Angela nodding in response. Almost as soon as he said that, a cloud of mist shot into the air, covering the area below in a thick cloud.

Angela quickly lined up a shot on the Paladin's sensors array module, letting a shot out, blowing one of the little laser sensors off. Gabriel was the first to leap off the bridge, firing off two meat shots at the Paladin, knocking it off balance a tad. Darren and Anne leapt off after, each firing shots at the Paladin. Darren's shots shredded the armour of the Paladin, melting it like a hot knife through butter, which again staggered the Paladin.

"Professors!" Ruby shouted, quite surprised, as Gabriel dropped in front of her. Gabriel smiled at the girl and fired off three more shots at the mech. Obviously, Roman was not only annoyed, but also he was scared of the four agents of XCom. Quickly, the mech's arm switched from its gun form to its fist form, swinging it at Darren, who teleported away a few meters and continued to fire.

"Hey! CONNARD!" Anne shouted, "Try this on for size!"

Asimov quickly flew towards Roman, discharging a massive burst of electricity along with it. The Paladin quickly fell down, incapacitated by the EMP frying its systems.

Ruby, seeing an opportunity, rushed forward to the mech and powered up the fusion blades on her scythe. Swinging the scythe, she cut clean through the arm of the mech, melting the metal it came in contact with. Roman quickly recovered, standing the Paladin back upright, preparing to fire the missiles in the pod on its back.

"Oh no, you don't!" Gabriel shouted, charging forward to meet the Paladin head on. Quickly, he drew Katana, empowering it with psionic energy, causing the blade to glow a deep gold like colour. He leapt up, raising the blade above his head and bringing it down, in front of the Paladin. Roman smirked, bringing up his remaining arm to smash the XCom agent, only to realize that…

He didn't have an arm.

His right arm, along with the entire rest of the right side of the Paladin, had been cut clean through. Roman bellowed in pain as he clutched the now bleeding stump that had once been his arm moments before. Quickly, Darren rushed to the now bisected mech, tearing away the portion that had been cut through and ripping Roman out of his seat.

"Sonofabitch! You could be more gentle, asshole!" Roman screamed, his face still contorting in pain, "Fuckin' 'ell! I want a fucking lawyer!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Gabriel said as he activated his helmets HUD and brought up squad speak, "Angela, you radioed in the cops yet? Ambulance maybe?"

" _Why an Ambulance? Is someone hurt?"_ Angela asked.

"Torchwick. I… umm… might have accidentally made him an amputee…" Gabriel replied, scratching his head, "Y'know what? Get down here, we'll give him some meds while we wait."

There was an audible sigh on Angela's end, " _Fuck it. I can't believe we're giving some high-quality shit to a known criminal."_

"To be fair, Angela, it's better that he's alive," Darren commented, "More info."

" _For once, I agree with mon_ _crétin_ _of a husband,"_ Anne commented as the group saw her rappel down to the level they were on, " _So, we talking to team RWBY about their actions tonight or nah?"_

"Yup, you just focus on stabilizing Torchy over here. Angela and I will talk to them," Gabriel replied as he walked over to team RWBY, who was still catching their breath, "So, you kids wanna explain what the hell you guys thought you were doing out here tonight? Or to I have to explain it for you?"

Ruby was first to respond, "Well… umm… uhh… we were investigating the White Fang… and its connections with the dust robberies that have been happening around the city…"

"And?" Angela said, gesturing them to continue.

"Well no one else was doing anything, so we took matters into our own hands," Yang said, "Is that such a problem?"

Angela let out another audible sigh, "Yes, it is. You played vigilante. You could have gotten hurt or worse. Look kiddo, as much as we as a whole would love to condone your actions, being that you saw a problem, saw no one was doing anything and took matters into your own hands, there are people who are paid to do what you kids just did. Police, huntsmen, the military. That's their job. So as much as we'd love for every single huntsman and huntress to have your drive and passion for keeping people safe and secure, leave it to the adults."

"We tried that, Professors!" Blake cried out, "We tried to leave ourselves out of this! And nothing happened! So I'm sorry if you think we're too young to do this, but we might as well prepare ourselves!"

"Look, while school code and my own paternal instincts tell me to stick you four in detention forever to keep you kids out of trouble and safe, I also just want to say that I'm… no, WE are very proud of you for taking initiative," Gabriel said, placing his hand on Ruby's chin and pulling her head up so that her eyes to meet his own, "But we also want to say that you should ask for help. There are people willing to help you in whatever little adventures you go on. Look, we're teachers. We're here to help you grow and mature."

"We just don't want any of you to get hurt, ok?" Angela said, the members of the team nodding and hanging their head in shame, "Come on, let's go."

In the next few minutes, Atlesian soldiers in Bullheads came to collect Torchwick and the wreck of the Paladin. Alpha helped them load up the mech, at least what remained of it, onto the larger, cargo focused Bullhead. The second Bullhead, a smaller variant, came with Ironwood, a set of handcuffs and a good amount of space for detaining Torchwick. A nice tight cell.

"I thought I said keep the prototype intact," Ironwood commented with venom in his voice, "Why is it broken beyond repair?!"

"Well first off, you said try to keep it intact. Emphasis placed on try. Secondly," Darren paused for effect, "We aren't your lackeys. We don't work for you. We answer to the Commander, and if she ain't here, it's Colonel who's our head. We'll help you, but we won't roll out the red carpet in front of you."

"Arguably, General, this was one of the best case senecios that could have happened," Anne continued, "Torchwick's alive and probably willing to tell us whatever we would want to know, you got a field test of you mech to see its weaknesses all with no need for endangering one of your own pilots. So I'd say it's a gagner pour vous!"

Ironwood groaned and mumbled something about crazy people, "Alright, fine then. I suppose this mission was a success."

Gabriel nodded, glancing at team RWBY, who was standing with Angela, "If we're in agreement on that, I guess we can all head back now. I think we could all use a bit of a rest."

* * *

 _Cinder's dorm…_

"That idiot!"

"Boss, calm down. I doubt Roman meant to get caught."

"That still doesn't change the fact that he was!"

For the past hour, Cinder Fall has been pacing back and forth, trying to figure out what in fucks name had happened that got Roman caught. Could it have been those pestering girls of team RWBY?

No, it wasn't them. It was those new professors, something neither she nor Salem had taken into account. Then again, they basically appeared a week ago, with no prior history on Remnant, with skills and weapons that were practically unknown. So accounting for the unknown is… well imposible.

Mercury sighed as Cinder stamped around the room, angrly moaning and groaning on about how Roman is an idiot and how he was stupid enough to get caught, "Look, Boss. I dunno how Roman got caught. He did. It's not that big of a problem, the plan didn't need him to move forward. The Fang is already in position in the South-east. Taurus said he's ready to move whenever the signal is given."

"Well that's just peachy!" Cinder replied punching a pillow, "Roman was a pivotal part of our plans! And now he's captured and we don't know how much information he'll give up! For all we know, he'll spill his guts and give them everything they want to know!"

Emerald gulped nervously, "Well… we don't know what he will do… he might, y'know, stay quiet. I mean, he is scared you. He probably won't talk…"

"We don't know that!" Cinder screamed, grabbing Emerald's face and squeezing it tightly, "He is up there, in a jail cell, in a ship we can't reach! We don't have any power over him because we can't reach him! He isn't scared of us because we can't do anything to him!"

"We can't do anything?" Mercury asked cockily while laughing a bit, "We could kill him, after all. It wouldn't be that hard to send the White Fang after the ship holding him. And with their forces, I don't doubt that would be able to destroy it."

Emerald rolled her eyes as Cinder released her hold on the green haired girl's face, "Do you really think that? The Atlesian forces would decimate the Fang. What we need to do is look at these new threats and figure out what the hell we are going to do about them."

"Good idea, my pet," Cinder said, sneering at Emerald and softly smacked her cheek. To be honest, Emerald didn't like Cinder, but she also realized she had nowhere else to go. No one to turn to. It was almost like Cinder was her only light in a dark world. Which saddened Emerald, something she didn't like to be. She felt attached to Cinder.

"Yes… I know what to do about those professors," Cinder said, "You two will go to the class that those four run. And you will find their weaknesses. And when the plan moves forward, we will destroy them."

"Yes… Cinder…" Emerald replied solemnly, her head hanging low, with her hair covering her eyes and face, "We will do as you ask."

"What did you call me?" Cinder replied, lifting up the girl's face, meeting their eyes.

"Umm… Yes… sorry mistress… I misspoke mistress…" Emerald replied timidly, "Please don't hurt me, mistress… please don't let Mercury hurt me again… I don't wanna be hurt like that again…"

"Then what do you call me, pet?"

"Mistress… Mistress!" Emerald said in fear, looking deep into the uncaring yellow eyes of Cinder, "I am to call you mistress."

"Good," Cinder said, throwing Emerald back onto her bed.

"Awe," Mercury said, lying on his back, "How cute. Looks like Emerald is scared."

"And you aren't, Mercury?" Cinder replied, glaring at Mercury, her eyes glowing red with hatred, as tears streamed from Emerald's red eyes in fear.

"Well," Mercury started off, "Yeah, sure, I'm scared of you. But let's be honest, Emerald is attached to you at the hip. If you don't like her, she's in big trouble. I'm just here for the ride. And honestly, I like it."

"Oh Mercury, you're so funny," Cinder replied, almost purring in her voice, as her mood changed from angry dominatrix to seductress at the flip of a coin, "Now, because Emerald used my name in this room, I believe you can punish her in any way you see fit. So…"

"PUNISH HER."

Mercury grimaced, as he hated even the thought of hurting Emerald, but he sighed, relenting because he knew a much worse fate awaited them both if he didn't do as he was told, and teleporting over to Emerald, pinning her to the bed. Emerald resisted, tears still in eyes. But no matter how hard she struggled, Mercury held strong onto the smaller girls wrists.

"Please…" Emerald mumbled, "Please Mercury… don't do this… please…"

"Sorry, Em. The boss lady said to punish you," Mercury whispered in her ear, trying his best to comfort her, "Just don't resist. You'll make it feel better. Please, I don't want to hurt you."

Emerald cried and nodded. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to leave, to run away. But she couldn't do that, so what choice did she really have?

* * *

 _Beacon's halls, next morning, 8:45 am…_

Emerald wasn't feeling any better after what happened to her later last night. She wanted to hate Mercury. She wanted to despise him. But she knew that if he didn't play along and didn't do what he did, both of them wouldn't be doing much. As she walked, or more limped, to the combat arena with Mercury, he wrapped his arms around her, trying with all he had to make up for forcing himself on her.

Emerald pushed Mercury off of her, earning a saddened look, "Mercury… please, just… just leave me alone."

"Look, Em, I'm sorry," Mercury replied, trying to pull her into another tight hug, "It was that, or Cinder fucks the both of us. And take that as you will, but it would've been a lot worse should that've happened."

"I know…" Emerald replied, crying a small bit, "Why can't we run? From all this? From her, that damn Queen, everything. What's stopping us? Are we just not allowed to?"

"More they'll just hunt us down if we do run," Mercury suggested, "We know too much. And we're in too deep now. We can't just leave."

The two continued to walk in silence to the classroom Cinder had told them to go to. They both felt disgusted with what they had done. As they walked, Emerald thought to herself. Mostly, she thought about how she could get away from Cinder. But she, again, felt too attached to Cinder, to reliant. Even if Cinder always found new and horrific ways to torture her, to make her feel subhuman, like she was just a toy that Cinder wanted to play with and discard, she knew that Cinder was the only consistent thing in her life. The only one, with the possible exception of Mercury, in her life who wouldn't leave her.

What made Emerald even more sick on the inside was her own mind thinking that what Cinder was doing was good. It repulsed her logical mind, but she herself could never come to condemn Cinder, feeling like Cinder was always right, no matter what she forced her to do. Even when she asked the most ridiculous of things, the most disgusting of things, her innermost thoughts would tell her to no, yet what she did portrayed the opposite.

"So, what do you think these new teachers will make the class do?" Mercury inquired, "From what I've heard, these guys are some tough motherfuckers."

"I hope it's nothing too hard… I don't wanna move all that much," Emerald replied, "Or fight, for that matter."

"Well, this is a combat class," Mercury said, "It's probably reasonable to think that they'll want us to get up and fight."

"Do you think that I could get out of it?" Emerald asked timidly.

Mercury chuckled, "Doubt it. I mean, I'll try to defend you against Cinder, if she finds out that you tried to cut the class. I think if you just take notes on them, or just say that you're feeling a bit sick, I think you should be fine."

The two infiltrators walked into the classroom, where, upfront, both Angela and Gabriel were standing, discussing a lesson plan and looking over an attendance. The two looked slightly amused, Angela somewhat chuckling as Gabriel whispered a joke into her ear. Emerald sighed, looking wistfully at the two. She wanted a family like that, one that got along with each other. One that could laugh at jokes and feel good.

One that wouldn't cast her out into the cold darkness of the real world when she was just a little girl, nothing more than five.

A tear formed in her eye, as she reminisced about her fantasies as a child. About finding a family, on that would love and cherish her as their child. When Cinder picked her up off the streets, she thought she had found that very thing she always longed for. But in truth, she was only partially right. Cinder still did hurt her, but she also showed a bit more of a caring side, such as when she tore someone's throat out when they groped Emerald. Which, come to think of it, is sort of a fucked up way to show someone you care about them. What with the tearing out a person's throat and killing them in cold blood and all.

"Alrighty kids, welcome back to class," Gabriel said enthusiastically, "I'm assuming that everyone had a good night's sleep and is ready to jump right into things?"

The students nodded a response, some more energetic than others. Angela smiled, "Now, before we get into our regularly scheduled Thursday show of fighting tactics and battlefield command," some students, particularly Yang, groaned, "I would like to give a warm welcome to two students from Haven Academy that will be joining us today. Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, if you two could stand up I could attach some faces to those names of yours, that would lovely."

Both Emerald and Mercury complied, standing up. Angela nodded, "Now, I'm just going to assume that you," she pointed at Emerald, "Are Emerald, right?"

Emerald nodded, and Angela continued "Which means you are Mercury. Please correct me if I'm wrong."

"Nope," Mercury replied, "You got it right."

"Very good," Gabriel said, "Now that we know your names, we're going to get into today's lesson. Now, for those of you who were paying attention last class, you'll know that we were discussing armies, and how size can play a factor in victory."

"Now, while superior numbers does help win wars, it is not the sole determining factor in winning a war," Angela continued, "For example, technology can and does play a part in victory. A military with vastly inferior numbers can be victorious against one with higher amounts of troops, so long as they have superior technology and tactics."

Gabriel continued, "Now, last class we gave you a little task. Primarily, you had to devise a military raid. You had to plan your troops and positions accordingly to the enemy and so on. If you did it correctly, you were supposed to have a typed up sheet displaying your tactics."

"Now, how many of you actually did it?" Angela asked. Most of the people raised their hands, including Team RWBY, JNPR and CRDL. Angela continued, "Please bring up the reports and tactics sheets. Gabriel will input them in and we'll see how well you did by means of simulation."

All the leaders of the teams came up to the front of the class, each of them handing Gabriel the reports and tactics sheets. Gabriel had taken Asimov earlier in the morning for the simulations, mainly because it had the updated simulation software they got back during the first invasion. In fact, it was the way the Commander got so good at military planning, as she ran through hundreds and hundreds of simulations over the past decade. Gabriel and Angela also helped her with the strategy's, and she quickly mastered the role of Commander.

Quickly, Gabriel punched in the strategy guides, using the holographic projections to draw out the military movement maps. He had to admit, each team had come up with a unique way to get the victory. Surprisingly, JNPR did the best out of all of the teams with regards to how the raid was planned. Their troops were planned in the most efficient way such that their countered the opponents forces.

The other two teams had a small amount more trouble, with Team RWBY only having trouble with getting their troops into cover against the heavy machine gun fire from the convoy. CRDL has even more issues, seeing how they had a Soviet mentality of throwing people at something till something happened. Overall, the simulation graded the teams on effective uses of their troops, as well as all supports that could be used and how effectively they used them.

While the simulation was starting up, Gabriel stood up and said, "Alrighty. Now that the simulations are running and we have some time, I would like to test our two guests in combat. Are you guys good to do a round?"

Mercury quickly responded, "Umm, Emerald has been feeling…"

Angela rolled her eyes, "If she has a problem, she can be the one to say what it is. Now, Emerald. What's wrong?"

"I… uhh… don't feel that good…" Emerald replied, timidly.

"Do you need to see a Doctor?" Gabriel asked. He did have some genuine concern for the girl, mainly because he didn't like to see people get hurt unless it was in good fun or they truly deserve every ounce of pain they received.

"Umm… I don't think so…" Emerald replied.

Gabriel smiled again, "Well, in that case, you're fine. Just try not to go to hard during the spar. If you get any worse while we're fighting, just lemme know and you can sit down and get some medical help. Now, get up and let's start."

Both Mercury and Emerald got up, as requested and went to get changed. As they were walking, Mercury said, "Try to see if you can use your semblance on him to get him riled up and angry. That might help us figure out their weaknesses."

Emerald nodded meekly and the two separated, each going to their lockers to change and acquire their weapons. After a few minutes, they entered the classroom again, where Gabriel was standing in the middle of the arena of the classroom, his fusion blade drawn and ready, the same dim blue light illuminating as the light on Ruby's Crescent Rose.

"Ah, you're back," Angela commented, "Quite punctual, I see. Regardless, today you will fight Gabriel here. Semblances are allowed, which means Gabriel will be able to use some of his own abilities as well. Fight fairly and such, blah blah blah. Please get in the arena."

The two infiltrators got onto the arena. Angela quickly drew Darkclaw, firing a blank round and shouting, "Begin!"

The fight began instantly. Mercury rushed forward, raising his leg to perform a kick to Gabriel's chest area. In response, Gabriel dropped his stance, raising one hand up into the air, as he summoned a pillar of Psionic energy to block the attack. Mercury's leg hit the pillar, ricocheting off the golden energy.

" _Huh, that's new,"_ Mercury said, " _Guess I'll have to get creative."_

Emerald rushed forward, causing Gabriel to take his focus off of Mercury. Emerald swung her kama down, causing Gabriel to raise his fusion blade up and block the strike. Quickly, Gabriel wrenched one of the kama from the girl's grip, flipping her over and onto her back. Mercury teleported behind Gabriel, connecting with his back and shooting two shots off which sent him flying forward. Rolling out of the fall, Gabriel got back up and collected a ball of psionic energy in his palm and thrust his and forward, creating a null lance that smashed into Mercury.

Emerald dodged off to the side of the lance, thinking, " _Now is probably the best time to do this. He's distracted after all."_

Emerald concentrated on Gabriel, as she activated her semblance of illusions on him. Almost immediately, she noticed something weird about his mind, like it was fighting back against her. She pushed on, feeling more and more resistance. Finally, something clicked.

And Emerald screamed, falling down into tears. Into unconsciousness.

Gabriel registered the fact that Emerald screamed the moment it occurred. The second she fell, both he and Angela were next to her, the girl not responsive to anything. Gabriel looked at Angela, who had already taken the vitals of the unmoving girl.

"She's alive," Angela commented, "But just barely, at that. That psyshock did a number to her."

"Suggestions?" Gabriel asked, only to notice the rest of the class staring in horror at what had just happened, "Alrighty class. That was… cut short, for obvious reasons. Umm… for the time being, I'll continue the lecture we did from last day."

Quickly, he turned to Angela and said, "Can you get Emerald up and to the residences? See if you can heal her there."

Angela nodded, picking Emerald up as carefully as she could and ran off to the staff dorms, earning more than a few strange looks along the way. Mercury, of course, had more than a few questions for Gabriel, seeing as how his partner had just started screaming and went unconscious.

However, his first question was, "Is Em gonna be ok?"

Gabriel nodded, "She'll be fine. Trust me, the psyshock wasn't that heavy. I think."

"Will she be ok?!" Mercury asked again, venom in his voice.

"Look kid," Gabriel replied, "She'll be fine. Just go sit back down. We've dealt with cases like this before and all of the people who suffered the thing she did came out fine. Maybe a bit shaken, but fine."

Mercury sighed and went back to his seat. What the hell would Cinder do when she found out? To him? Maybe to Emerald?

* * *

" _Where am I?"_

 _The void in front of her betrayed no response._

" _Hello?"_

 _Again, it called out into the void and again, nothing came out of it. No noise, no movement, no nothing._

" _Where am I?"_

 _Nothing._

" _HELLO?!"_

 _The void echoed her voice back, "Hello? HELLO?! HELLO!"_

 _She was taken back by the voice from the void. It was hers, but younger. Much younger. The blackness of the void shifted to the living room of a house. The room wasn't anything to special, a couch, television, the like. But then she saw it. She saw herself, standing by the door to the looking saddened, tears in her eyes._

" _Mom? Dad?" the younger her asked, "What are you doing?"_

 _The girl's parents turned to her, malice and hate in their eyes. She knew that look, that same look her parents gave her when they threw her out of their house when she was five. The two got up, slowly walking to her. First, her father struck her in the face, knocking her to the floor. Her mother rushed up and kicked her in the stomach, blood flying from her mouth as she retched in pain._

" _You've been nothing but trouble for us," the mother said, "You are trash."_

" _And what do we do with trash like you?" the father asked rhetorically, "That's right. We throw it out."_

 _He picked up the unmoving yet still conscious body of the girl, hauling her of his broad shoulder. He walked over to the door of the house, opening the door and flinging the limp body out the door and onto the street._

" _And don't fucking come back you little shit!" The man called, slamming the door shut. The girl still lay there, unmoving, in to much pain and shock to think logically. Emerald slowly moved to her younger self, getting down and picking the younger version of her up._

" _Why…" the young girl asked, "Why did they do that?"_

" _I dunno mini-me… I dunno," Emerald replied, the younger version of herself coughing up some blood._

" _Does it ever get better?" The younger version of her asked._

…

…

" _Does it ever get any better?" She asked again, this time a bit more force behind her voice._

 _Old Emerald didn't know what to say. Usually, if faced with this question, her most primeval brain would tell her to say that yes, everything would be ok. But this time, something else happened. A part of her mind pushed back and much more than usual. Much, much more than usual, actually._

 _Old Emerald just began to cry, "I don't know… maybe? It seemed like it was, but then it just got worse."_

" _So why don't we leave?"_

 _Emerald Senior continued to cry and choke up, "I can't. No one would accept me."_

" _You don't know that," her younger self said, "You haven't tried."_

" _After what I've done?" Emerald said through tears, "I'm a monster. I am a monster who deserves to die."_

 _The younger her shook her head, "No you don't. We don't deserve to die. We are a product of horrendous circumstance, molded by the world. You aren't a monster and the only reason you think you are is that some people want you to think that way."_

" _What we need is a family who will care for you," the young girl continued, "So find a family who will do that. And keep them close."_

 _The world around her faded, falling into pieces around her. And the void consumed her. But this time, Emerald didn't scream or fight. She let darkness come and take her. Take back to the real world._

* * *

Angela had spent ten hours by Emerald's bed, simply waiting for the girl to wake up. The girl was on a king-sized bed that she and Gabriel slept on. Mainly because it was the only bed available for anything. Which also meant that they were most likely going to sleep on the couch. Not the best thing to happen, but it was far from the worst luck to have happened to them. Having to deal with Ironwood chewing them out for what he called "Excessive use of force" when he learned how Roman lost his arm was much worse. Which was funny, seeing as how Roman was the one in the giant war mech.

Excessive force would be using two giant mechs against his one and cutting off his arm.

Angela smiled, still reading her book, ' _A Game of Thrones'_ , which was arguably one of her favourites, seeing as she had read and re-read the book series over three times. Just as she was getting to one of the best parts of the book, she heard Emerald groan. Angela put down her book, getting up and walking to the girl's side, sitting on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Angela asked as she put her hand on the girl's head.

Emerald groaned again, "Like absolute shit."

Angela sighed, betraying a smile, "Sorry to hear that, kiddo. Anything I can do to make you feel any better?"

Emerald looked down, "Could you answer me some questions?"

Angela nodded, "Sure. Anything. Except for really classified things. Like how I keep my hair so red."

Emerald smiled at the older woman's attempt at humor, "Well, in that case, have any of my teammates been by?"

"Yup. They were happy to hear that you were ok, as well," Angela replied, "You have good friends, you know."

" _If only that were true…"_ Emerald thought to herself, her mood saddening. Another part of her mind shot up, " _They're fine friends, shut up."_

"You know what?" Angela said, perking up, "I put some soup on earlier. Let me just go and get that heated up for you."

Angela walked out of the room, leaving Emerald to her thoughts. Sighing, Emerald slumped down, thinking about her dream. It was one that she has had many times before, where she would talk to her younger self and try to reassure herself that everything was fine. But this time was different. This time, her mind betrayed some conflict, some uncertainty.

After a few minutes, Angela came back into the room with a bowl of soup in her hands. She handed it to Emerald, who took a sip of the soup. It was a butternut squash soup, strangely enough, something Emerald had never actually tried. Angela smiled, "Too hot? I can cool it down if you want."

"No, it's fine," Emerald replied, "Thanks, by the way. Not many people would have done this for me."

"Really?" Angela said, "What about your friends? Family?"

"Friends maybe, family no," Emerald commented, sipping her soup, "My family never really liked me."

Angela sat next to Emerald, placing her hand on the younger girl's arm, "Wanna talk about it? That usually helps people get over it."

"What are you, a psychiatrist?" Emerald rhetorically asked, smiling a bit.

"No, but I have helped people with severe PTSD before," Angela replied, her tone suddenly saddening a bit, "Trust me. Everyone has gone through something hard in their life. Hell, even I have. So, what happened?"

Emerald didn't know what to say. Honestly, she had never really been asked to explain her life. Heck, even Cinder never had asked her. So she didn't really know how to start.

Emerald sighed, "I guess it started when I was five. My family was going through some hard times and my parents weren't the best of people. The thought it was me that caused their problems. They called me trash, useless. They said they would kill me, they locked me in my room hungry. I'm pretty sure that there were many times when I went a few days without eating anything."

Angela gestured for her to keep going, "Well, after a while, my parents decided enough was enough and they threw me out of the house. I had to survive on the streets in Atlas for years… it was horrible…"

Emerald began to ball her eyes out, crying and crying. Angela could practically hear the young girl's distress radiating off her. She quickly pulled Emerald into a tight hug, stroking the top of her head softly.

"There, there. It's ok," Angela said lovingly, like a mother, "Shush, shush… it's alright. You're fine. Everything is fine. You're going to be alright."

Emerald didn't stop crying, but she did calm down a bit, enough to regain some sense, "Could… you st… stay with… with me? Please? I don't wanna be alone…"

"Sure…" Angela said, "Of course I can, Emerald."

* * *

Gabriel and Darren walked into the staff residences, after a long day of teaching (which Darren was called in to do after Angela left) and drinking, which the two of them did after classes were finished. The two walked into their house with most of the lights off, being sure to keep quiet as it was around midnight, and both Anne and Angela were most likely sleeping soundly. Darren went off to the washroom to brush his teeth as Gabriel went to his and Angela's bedroom to get his bathrobe for a shower. As he walked in, he noticed that Angela was in bed reading, which was unlike her, at least while it was this late. She put a finger to her lips, as she pointed to Emerald, who was sound asleep next to her.

"Be quiet, ok?" Angela asked, "She's sleeping. And I don't think she's moving, so you might have to sleep on the couch."

Gabriel nodded, getting his bathrobe and leaving the room. He then promptly smacked his face in annoyance and muttered, "Just as I was getting used to sleeping on a king-sized bed, I get shafted to the couch by my wife and some kid. Fucking great… all the things I do for you, Angie..."

* * *

 _ **And that's it for today! See you guys whenever I get around to finishing the next chapter of this story. See yall later!**_

 _ **Narsauce out!**_


	4. Dance the night away

_**Sup, boys and girls, Apache attack helicopters of all ages... or people, people work to. I'm back, doing another one of these chapters of the XCom and RWBY thingy that I now love myself for making because I see so much potential in it. Regardless, nothing much in this chapter, I'll admit it is probably just filler. But filler is okay and we'll get back into the juicy stuff later.**_

 _ **Firaxis owns XCom, RT owns RWBY and the world goes ROUND!**_

 _ **Enough talk, Read. Now.**_

* * *

 _Alpha Squad's residences…_

The Beacon dance. Apparently it was a popular thing and quite the spectacle. For Gabriel however, it was literal hell.

"God damn it this suit is to tight."

"You look amazing honey."

"Angela, I think I might get choked out by this tie."

"Oh shut up and deal with it."

Darren and Anne obviously had enough fun listening to Gabriel and Angela bicker like a couple who had been married for twenty years (Oh wait) and barged in to see Angela tying a tie around Gabriel's neck, and failing as Gabriel was trying his hardest to instruct her on how to tie a tie. The tie was golden yellow, contrasting it with the black suit that Gabriel wore, where Angela was wearing an azure dress.

"Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you two have caught us doing," Gabriel said, sighing and dreading the response.

"But of course!" Darren replied snarkily, "Nothing can top the Kama Sutra!"

"Hey, that was you guys, not us!" Angela yelled, "Besides, we don't need a book for fun times, right Gabriel?"

"True enough," Gabriel said, "Now, do you still want to tie this tie? Because you've been trying for half an hour and not once have you gotten it right."

"Ugh fine…" Angela sighed, "So, Anne. How do I look?"

"Is my opinion not good enough for you?" Gabriel asked, quite annoyed.

"No, your opinion is fine. I just want another," Angela replied.

Anne nodded, "Well, you look great. I say, the dress does match the eyes."

"Awe thanks," Angela replied, hugging Anne, "Remind me, when was the last time you saw me in a dress?"

"Probably way back," Darren said while fiddling with his own tie, "Probably back when we had that huge party memorial after the temple ship went down. Heck, even for our fucking weddings we didn't wear anything fancy. Just us four and the Commander."

"Fun times," Gabriel commented, "So, Angela. How do I look?"

"Dashing as always," Angela replied, only to then turn to Anne and ask, "Do you have a dress for tonight?"

"Do I need one?" She rhetorically replied. Angela nodded, confirming Anne's worst fears, "Shit… you know I look really bad in a dress."

"You do not!" Darren exclaimed, "You look amazing. And besides, if anyone should complain, it's me! I still think I look like an off brand magician in this getup. All I need is a top hat and some rabbits and I could be putting on a show."

"You know how to do sleight of hand tricks?"

"Some," Darren replied, "Nothing much. Just a few card tricks and such."

Gabriel's eyebrows raised, "What can you do? You know, of your card tricks."

"I can't believe you've never seen me do any of this before," Darren said, "I mean, come on. I used to practice this all the damn time back at the old base during breaks. It was my thing."

"Yeah but you were obviously pretty damn good at hiding it!" Gabriel countered, "Come on, dude. Show us what you got."

"Alright, alright, fine," Darren said, "Pass me some cards, I'll do a small trick."

Anne threw Darren a set of cards, who quickly opened the pack and shuffled the cards. He presented them flat on the table, "Pick a card, any card."

Anne was the first to move, grabbing one of the fifty two face down cards. She drew the king of spades and showed it to the other three. She then put the card back in the deck while everyone look, shuffling the cards and handing them to Darren.

"Now, for the trick," Darren said, sneakily, as he pulled out a dart and tossed the deck into the air, the cards fluttering around the group. Quickly, he drew back and threw the dart, pinning one of the cards to the wall. Walking over to the wall and pulling out the dart, he asked, "Is this your card?"

"Huh," Gabriel said, as the card was revealed to be indeed the king of spades, "Cool. But any of us can pin a card to a wall."

"True enough, I suppose," Darren replied, "But wait, Angela, did you check your shoe?"

"No, wh..at the fuck?" Angela exclaimed as she pulled an entire new box of cards from her shoe, even though it couldn't reasonably fit in there.

"Now, open it," Darren said. Angela complied, opening the box. Inside was a single card, with a hole through it. The king of spades, speared identically to its twin.

"C'est quoi ce bordel?" Anne whinged, "The fuck you do that?"

"Magic…" Darren replied, waving his hands mysteriously.

Gabriel rolled his eyes, "You copied them and then teleported 'em, didn't you?"

"Hey, hey," Darren said defensively, "No one needs to know that. For every who doesn't know, it is magic. But in all honesty, the first one was more sleight of hand focused."

"That's… actually pretty fucking cool," Anne said, "Now, since _SOMEONE_ is insisting that I wear a dress to this fucking dance we have tonight, Angela, you are going to come with me to help me find a suitable dress today."

"You've gotta be kidding me, Anne," Angela moaned, "Really, why me?"

"C'est la vie, Angie," Anne replied, "Come on, I have a dress to go get and you're helping me."

Both Gabriel and Darren laughed as Angela was dragged out of the room by Anne to go to Vale to buy a dress. Specifically a red one, cause red was her favorite color.

"Did we not tell them that the dance thing is tonight?" Darren asked, still wheezing as to how under prepared his wife is for the school dance.

Gabriel cocked his eyebrow in confusion, "Isn't that why she just left? To go and buy a dress for the dance?"

"Doesn't it take longer than a day to get a dress?" Darren asked, "I mean, hell. Took me a week to get this suit made."

"That's just you magician man," Gabriel replied, "Now, I need to get out of this suit and rest. Cause FUCK, this thing tight!"

"Aye, that's what I said to Anne last night!" Darren joked, wheezing at his own joke.

"Please never say that again," Gabriel asked cringing on the inside, "Please, please, please never say that again… I don't need to know about your sex life any more that I already do…"

* * *

 _An hour or two later…_

Anne and Angela had just come back from their outing of dress buying. Anne had indeed found a nicely made red pencil dress that fit her… reasonably well. But then again, reasonably dressing is only a byproduct of the battlefield. When not in perpetual danger (which they arguably were) Anne didn't like to be… burdened by large armours and such, opting to rather dress a bit more minimally.

"I still feel like you should've gone with something a bit less… revealing, Anne," Angela commented, "Just imagine what the students will think of you."

"Revealing is subjective, Angie," Anne replied snarkily, "Besides, it covers my ass and boobs, therefore I am in the clear. And if I catch anyone staring… well, Darren will deal with them."

"Always jumping back to Darren, I see?"

Anne just shrugged, "Well, he is my knight in shining armour, is he not?"

"I guess he is," Angela replied as the two walked by an open classroom door, "Huh. That's weird."

Upon further investigation, the two noticed Yang and Blake sitting together and talking, both their eyes red from crying, or in Blake's case, lack of sleep. Blake looked as though she… was going through hard times.

"Either Blake has some serious issues, simply from looking at the way she's acting…" Anne commented, "Or… this is gonna be the start of a bad lesiban porno."

"Does that have to be the first place your mind always go?" Angela asked, "Porn? I didn't know you were that horny. And honestly, I didn't want to know."

"Oh shut it," Anne replied, "I was making a fucking joke. Come on, let's go see what's up."

The two entered the room to see Blake and Yang shoot up with red plastering their faces. Anne laughed openly, "So… what were you to doing? Planning anything… feisty?"

"Anne-Marie!" Angela shouted, surprising the two members of team, "I am appalled! These are children! They need not be asked these questions!"

"Fine, fine, fine," Anne relented, "I give. Seriously though. What's up with you two?"

"Oh… Umm…" Yang began, "I'm trying to convince Blake to come to the dance and take a break."

"So from what I hear, you want her to take a… _Blake_?" Anne joked, causing Yang to burst out laughing while Blake and Angela groaned, "Oh come on. You were just asking for it."

Angela sighed, facepalming, "You are… you know what? Fuck it. Blake, why are you not going to the dance? Even we are."

"Well…" Blake said, "It's about… the Fang. I have to stop them. And I have to do it on my own."

Angela and Anne exchanged looks, "What? Why on your own? You have friends who I am sure are willing to help you."

"You don't get it!" Blake angrily retorted, "I am responsible for not stopping the Fang when I could! So I have to stop them now!"

"Okay Blake, we get it," Angela said, placing her hand on Blake's shoulder, "You feel responsible for not taking action when you could have but…"

"And I was part of the Fang…"

Angela's eyes popped open, "Umm what?"

"I was part of the Fang, OK?!" Blake screamed, "I was born into it, back when the Fang was for equality. I was at every protest, every boycott, everything. Then the old leader went and retired and a new leader came up in their stead. The new leader changed our tactics. We went from being peaceful and just waiting to actively attacking places that we saw inequality. And what was worse was that it worked. We became equal, but not out of respect, out of fear."

Angela stayed silent at Blake's word. Holding her head down in shame, Blake muttered, "And now you think I'm a horrible person for hiding it…"

"Horrible person?" Anne laughed, "Look Blake. Us criticizing you for being a part of a group that could have been considered terrorists would be very, very hypocritical of us."

"Wait, you guys were terrorists?" Yang shouted, surprised.

"In a sense, yes," Angela shrugged, "A terrorist is simply a group of people who the leading world deems a dissenting opinion. Now, I would like to say that terrorists can be truly evil, most of them are. Advent and our entire home thought all of us as terrorists when what we actually were was far from that."

"Look, what the Fang is doing is… not the best, I think we can agree on that," Anne said, "But you aren't the sole person responsible for that and you have to bloody well understand that. Just like Bradley takes responsibility for our defeat the first time around or how the Commander takes responsibility for every single one of the soldiers killed under her command, it's not your fault. And you should stop treating it as such."

Blake looked down sniffling back a tear, "But… But… I have to…"

"Nah ah ah. Not another word out of your mouth young lady," Anne interrupted, "What you need is to take a fucking break. The Fang can be dealt with later. So why not take tonight off and go to the dance? It's harmless! And trust me when I say that it'll be easier to deal with the Fang when you are well rested. Fighting tired is just going to get you hurt, Blake."

Blake stood in silence, unsure of what to say. She looked down in shame, muttering something, to quiet for anyone to make out what she said. Angela rolled her eyes, "What was that, Blake?"

"I'm sorry," Blake whispered again, just barely loud enough for anyone to hear.

"Blake, we can barely hear you," Anne said, "Speak up, kiddo."

"I'm sorry, OKAY!?" Blake practically shouted, "I'm sorry that I made you worried. I'm sorry I made you guys scared for my well being… I just want to bring the Fang to justice for what they've done…"

"And trust me, you will," Angela responded, "Eventually, you will get strong enough to face them down and eventually they will be brought to justice. But for now, just rest easy, ok girl?"

Blake sighed a response, causing Angela to roll her eyes, "That wasn't a yes, was it."

Blake sighed again, "Yes, it was a yes."

Anne smiled, "Alright. Now that you've agreed to come to the dance, let's all go and get you a dress for it."

"Arghhhhh!" Angela groaned, "WE WERE JUST OUT GETTING YOU A DRESS!"

"And we're going to go back out and get another one," Anne replied snarkely, "Come on girls, let's find Blake a dress."

* * *

Gabriel was walking around the halls of Beacon Academy, minding his own business. Angela and Anne had gone out to gather Blake up a dress for the dance, because apparently it was their job to get every single woman in Beacon a dress should they not have one.

"We didn't even have a fucking formal wedding," Gabriel sighed, "I was wearing jeans and a fucking t-shirt, for crying out loud."

He turned one of the corners into his classroom, intent on getting some stuff completed for tomorrow's class. Mainly just a bit of a lesson plan and such, team versus team. Stuff to keep the groups busy. After around twenty minutes of trying to figure out a decent lesson plan, he heard a knock on the door. Opening the door, he saw emerald green eyes staring back at him, looking right into his own.

"Oh, sorry professor," Pyrrha quickly said, "I didn't know you were here."

"Well, I am. What's up, Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha looked down, nervous, "Well… just one thing actually. Can we…"

"Talk about it in private?" Gabriel inquired, ushering her into the classroom, "Sooooo… what's up?"

"Well… I was looking for help."

Gabriel gave her a confused look, "Help? Help with what? You're already one of the best students in the school, what could you need help wit…"

It was around this time that he noticed that the Spartan was looking at the floor, blushing a furious atomic red, "Oh."

"That. You want help with…"

"Jaune," Pyrrha quickly spat out, "I need Jaune to notice me."

Gabriel looked dumbfounded, "And your first idea… was to come to me."

Pyrrha nodded and Gabriel continued, "Well then, Pyrrha. Still don't know why you came to me, but fuck it, here we go. One questions first. What have you already tried?"

"Umm…" Pyrrha began, "I… I've tried… well, helping him with just about everything he's had trouble on, tried to sit closer to him whenever I can. That's about it, so far."

Gabriel raised his eyebrows and face palmed, "Have you ever just flat out told him?"

"No…"

"Pyrrha, Pyrrha, Pyrrha," Gabriel sighed, "Look. According on my wife, men think with two things. Their eyes… and their… y'know."

"Oh," Pyrrha said, her eyes widening in surprise, causing Gabriel to chuckle.

Gabriel's chuckle turned into full force laughter as Pyrrha turned a bright red, "God, you're gullible. I was joking, kid, I was joking. But seriously though, you need to just tell him these things. Worked on me when Angela did it, so it'll work with Jaune when you do it."

"Are you…"

"Trust me, I'm sure," Gabriel put a comforting hand of the champion's shoulder. Pyrrha smiled and got up, moving to the door.

"Oh, and one more thing before you go, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha turned around to see Gabriel staring back at her intensely, "You are going to ask Jaune out to the dance, got it?"

Pyrrha nodded in response, leaving the classroom and shutting the door behind her. Gabriel sat there for a moment, smiling inwards to himself as he thought about how funny it was that someone like him was playing matchmaker. Considering how strange the beginning of his relationship was, at least.

"Best of luck to you, kid," he said, "Best of luck."

* * *

The dance came as it was foretold by the Beacon schedule. The grand hall of the academy had been decked in whatever party things the decorators could find. And honestly, Alpha team was having a good time. Then again, they hadn't been to a formal dance in years, their high school semi formal was the last one they actually remember, considering the… y'know… war. Looking over the assembled students, Gabriel began to smile, thinking about how lucky each and every single one of them are.

"Having fun?"

Angela's voice broke him out of his thoughts. He turned back and smiled kindly at his wife, still in her azure dress, "Yeah. It's just… well, been a damn long time since we actually did anything like this. Last time we had a dance like this was... "

"The semi formal. Yeah, I know," Angela replied, "Remember that? Back when neither of us were interested in dating. Look at us now."

"Didn't us four hang out by the punch bowl the entire night?" Gabriel inquired, "Didn't Justin, the Q.B. try to force you into a dance. After we danced a bit."

"And I said something like, 'Nope. Already taken.' And I pointed at you?" Angela continued, "Yeah, I remember that. That was funny."

"Right up until Justin smashed my head into a wall," Gabriel chuckled, "He was all like, 'Fuckin' bitch ass wimp stealing my girl!' And then I crotch-shot him and broke his nose and his arms. Wasn't that the first night you actually admitted you had a crush on me, as well? I seem to recall that."

"Yeah. Foyer on the second floor. Just you and me," Angela replied, I ran out in the middle of the dance, right after you kicked Justin and his goons collective asses and you followed me. I was all nervous and shit and you were trying to calm me down. Then I kissed you and… well…"

"Let's just reminisce about the stuff before that," Gabriel concluded, "Hey, notice Ironwood trying to get all friendly with Glynda over there?"

"Yup, I see it," Angela nodded, "Jaune and Pyrrha are still dancing over there with their team. How ever did that happen?"

"Apparently I'm the doctor of love," Gabriel replied, "Pyrrha came for advice and apparently it worked."

"You?" Angela scoffed, "Doctor of love? That's new."

"New for me to, let's be honest," Gabriel replied, "Though I do wanna see if I can work my… 'magic'(?) on Glynda and Ironwood. Could be… interesting to see how it plays out."

"Fucking with a half woman, half shark person is what you call interesting?" Angela asked, confused, "Whatever you say, just don't get us into any trouble with Glynda."

"Oh come on! She's not that scary!"

"Have you seen her glare?" Angela retorted, "If looks could kill, I'd probably have died at least a good forty times in the past few weeks!"

"OK, fine. Maybe she has the glare of a human-shark thing," Gabriel relented, sighing in defeat, "Still, you have to admit, it would be funny to see her dance. Try to dance, at least. Can she dance?"

"I don't doubt it," Angela replied, "But if she can't, she's hiding it well."

"She's just standing around. Not like she's actually dancing or anything."

"No, but the way she told off Ironwood is either her saying, 'I'm sorry, I wouldn't like to dance,' or, 'GTFO James, I don't want to fucking dance.' One of the two," Angela replied.

"Really?" Gabriel sarcastically commented, "You only gave me two options that are the exact opposite level of asshole. Of course it's one of the two. At least the first one was polite."

"Well I had to give her one polite option," Angela topped off, "She seems like the kind of person who would be all polite and stuff. Not one for 'crude language'."

"You sound like my grandmother," Gabriel joked, "She's all like, ' Oh Gabriel! Stop using that vile language!' or, 'Gabriel! Stop using the lord's name in vain!' It was so fucking annoying! I can say FUCK whenever I want!"

"Gabriel! Stop using that vile language!" Angela mocked, her voice almost exactly his own and earning a distasteful glare from her husband, "You were asking for that."

"Guess I was," Gabriel rolled his eyes complacently.

The two continued to look over the dance. The two observed Jaune and Ruby having a friendly conversation, only for Jaune to go outside after Pyrrha. The two began having a conversation with each other.

"Those two are hilarious," Angela said as they continued to watch over Jaune and Pyrrha with a keen eye, "I don't think she could be more obvious with her crush. Even if she wore a giant neon sign that said, ' _Hey! Fucktard! I want the D! Gimme the D!'_ How'd ya thing that would go?"

"Knowing Beacon's dress code, I… don't think that well," Gabriel added, "I think the whole neon sign think would be a bit cumbersome, the message is just plain not Pyrrha…"

"Not Pyrrha? Please, do explain."

"She just doesn't seem like the type of person to wear anything that would even remotely be sexually suggestive," Gabriel replied, "She's to modest."

Angela rolled her eyes, resting her hand her chin and looking out at the ongoing dance. The two continued to observe the dance continuing, Darren and Anne doing the Charleston, Blake and Yang joining them, Weiss sitting around, and Ruby drinking copious amounts of punch. Honestly, she probably drank the whole bowl.

Or at least she would've, if Jaune hadn't walked back into the ballroom wearing a massive white dress. Stunned, Gabriel and Angela looked on.

"What."

"The."

"Actual."

"Fuck!"

"Why…" Angela began to ask, still stunned, "What is Jaune thinking?!"

"Hell if I know, but he looks hilarious!" Gabriel replied, laughing hysterically.

Apparently Pyrrha thought that as well, while she also laughed as Jaune approached her, bowing politely and outstretching his hand. Pyrrha gingerly took it, and Team JNPR moved out onto the dance floor. Once there, they started a group dance and they were soon joined by a large group of people, save the two watching and a few others.

A few minutes after the dance began, Gabriel and Angela noticed Emerald walking near them, nervous and trying to stay out of the dance.

"Hey Emerald," Gabriel called out, "Feeling better today?"

The green haired thief nodded and walked over to the pair. She felt… calmer with them, strangely enough.

"You having fun tonight, kid?" Gabriel asked as Emerald stood between him and Angela.

Emerald sighed, "Umm… Yeah I guess. I mean, I'm not one for dancing."

"Not one for dancing, eh?" Angela mimicked, "That was his line when we were your age. Not one for dancing."

"I feel like we remember the semi-formal a tad bit differently, Angie," Gabriel retorted playfully, "I was the one who was dancing. You were sitting in a corner trying not to get noticed until I asked you if you wanted to dance. Then we went and stood by the punch bowl for half an hour. Then I got my head smashed into a wall."

"You had your head smashed into a wall?" Emerald exclaimed, "Who did it?"

"A jock named Justin," Angela answered, "Justin thought I was his girl. Which is was and will forever be wrong. Gabe got him back though."

"Busted his arm as well," Gabriel continued, "It was fun while it lasted. So kid, you go to school before Haven?"

"Not really," Emerald replied, "I lived on the street for most of my life. Until Cinder… picked me up… at least."

Gabriel looked astonished, "Wait, so you didn't go to a combat school? But you're so good at… y'know. Fighting. You must've learned somewhere."

"Yeah, the streets," Emerald sighed, "When you lived like I did, it was fight or… y'know. Die."

Gabriel looks down at the shorter girl, a petite five-foot-five compared to his six-foot-four. She began to tear up a small bit, her visage saddening. Gabriel smiled a bit, patting her shoulder, "Sorry I brought it up, Emerald. I understand remembering those things can be hard."

"It's… it's OK, professor," Emerald replied as she moved slightly closer into Angela's arms. Angela then noticed the younger girl's eyes scanning the crowd.

"Got anyone special, Emerald?" Angela teased, the other girl's face burning a bright red, "I'll take that as a yes."

"So," Gabriel continued to tease, "Who's the lucky guy? Or girl, I don't judge."

"Well…" Emerald began, "I'm with Mercury, But it's… It's complicated, to say the least."

"How complicated?" Angela inquired, "You two see quite close, all things considered."

"More just an on again off again thing," Emerald lied, keeping her identity as an infiltrator safe. But that wasn't the response she wanted to give, her mind still fighting back, repulsed at her outward portrayal of her relationship with Mercury. At best, it was a relationship born out of convenience, with the ever so minute possibility of being anything.

"Well, go ask him to dance, Em," Gabriel encouraged the nervous girl, "What's the worst that could happen?"

* * *

" _I'm dreaming, aren't I?" The commander thought to herself as she sat in the couched room of her old house._

 _A little girl rushed down the stairs to the living room of her house. The commander recognized the girl immediately, being that it was her. Just younger, maybe around eight. The commander smiled, happily recalling the memory. Until she saw what was in her younger counterpart's hand, until she remembered what this day actually was._

" _Mama!" the young commander cried, rushing to her mom while holding a picture. She leapt into the waiting arms of her mother, who looked at the picture herself. The older woman, who looked like a literal copy of the Commander with more red hair, began to tear up when she saw the picture._

" _Where did you find this?" her mother asked as she looked down at the waiting girl in her lap._

" _In the attic, Mama," the girl replied, "Who is he? Who's the little boy?"_

 _The younger commander pointed at the picture. The picture showed two children, maybe two and a half years old, both with similarly cut hair, both brunettes. She recognized the first as herself, but a baby, but the second child. The second child was one she had never seen before, one she didn't know. Not in any other picture, anywhere around the house._

" _Oh…" her mother quietly mumbled, a single tear coming down her face, "He is… was… your brother… your twin brother…"_

 _The girl looked up at her mother, who at this point was fully fledged in a crying fit, and asked, "Why is brother not anywhere else in the house? Where did brother go?"_

" _He… he…" her mother stuttered out, "I don't know… he… your brother just disappeared… just… just… gone…"_

" _Mommy, where did he go?"_

" _I DON'T KNOW!" her mother screamed, voice sounding like she was in agony, "I DON'T KNOW, OK!?"_

" _I don't know…" she broke down, tears streaming from her eyes._

 _The commander looked on her younger self as she tried to comfort her crying, spasming mother. The young girl looked her mother directly in the eyes, uttering a single question, "Why did you hide it away?"_

" _Because we didn't… didn't want you to be sad, or to feel responsible. A… afte… after your brother…" her mother continued to choke her words out, "Disappeared… we didn't want tha… that sort of pressure on your shoulders…"_

 _Her mother pulled the young commander in close, continuing to stutter, "Oh my sweet little flower… please forgive me…"_

 _The commander, the older version, teared up herself as her younger version continued hugging her mother back. The commander looked on as her past self and her mother fell onto their knees, holding each other close._

" _Don't worry, mom," The commander softly muttered as she reminisce over the memory, "I do. I will find my brother. I promised you then, and I won't fail now."_

* * *

 _Avenger, Commander's quarters…_

The commander woke in a cold sweat, jolting forward in her bed. She has had that same dream for years, on again, off again, more vivid, less vivid. She still remembered that day when she found the picture of her and her brother sleeping together in a playpen for babies. On that day she promised herself that she would find her brother, whatever it would take, and she would bring him back to their family.

And she never fulfilled that promise.

"Fuck me…" she said to herself, "That was a doozy. I need a fucking drink"

She got out of her bed, throwing on some loose fitting track pants, her favorite "Early morning" t-shirt and her necklace. It was one her mother gave her the day after she found the picture of her and her brother, just as a sort of apology for hiding the truth. In a way, it made up for it, but in the same way, she was angry at them for hiding his existence from her.

She slowly and quietly exited her room, careful not to wake any of the sleeping crew members up. She stealthy slid down the hallways and corridors of the hulking flying fortress to the bar area. She opened the door only to find… Bradford and Lily having some late night/early morning booze.

Bradford smiled "Commander. Good to see you up. Whisky?"

"Nah, wine is fine," she replied, "I can't stand whisky. Tastes disgusting."

"Suit yourself," Bradford replied as he poured himself another shot glass, "So Commander, what brings you to my humble bar this early in the morn?"

"Couldn't sleep," she replied, slurring the words to emphasize her state of really fucking tired. Which apparently caught on.

Lily laughed as she took a shot of whiskey, "So… what kept you from sleeping, Commander? Monster under the bed?"

"Come on, Lily," the Commander retorted, "The shit we've fought and killed would make the monsters under the bed shit their pants and cry for mommy."

Lily shrugged, "True enough."

The Commander grabbed a bottle of wine, pouring herself a glass of probably the most expensive wine they had on board the avenger, "Nah, I had a nightmare."

"Our fearless commander had a nightmare, eh?" Lily teased, "What on this world could terrify you enough to wake you up?"

"An old promise I made to my mom," she replied.

"A promise to your mom?" Lily inquired, "About what?"

The Commander sighed, sipping her wine, "When I was eight, I learned I had a twin brother. I also learned that he disappeared when I was two and a half years old… and that my parents hid every memory of him away in our attic. When I found out, my mom practically broke down and almost went insane. So I promised her that I would find him and bring him home."

"Well then," Bradford replied, "Are you sure he didn't die and your parents covered it up?"

The Commander shrugged, tearing up, "Pretty sure. They even admitted he didn't die. The only way he could be dead is if he died in the past few decades. Which, knowing my luck, is exactly what happened."

Lily patted her superiors shoulder reassuringly, "Hey, hey, hey. Commander, don't cry. I'm sure you'll find him. I mean, you're you. One of the most dedicated and hard working people I know. It just might take some time."

"Well, obviously more time than I could ever offer," the Commander replied as she took another hearty gulp of wine, "It's been nearly thirty years since I made that promise and I've accomplished nothing."

The three sat there making small talk, simply enjoying the drinks and each other's company. The Commander eventually got up to walk to the memorial, a wall with plaques of the fallen men and women who bravely gave their lives to defeat Advent. Most of them she knew personally, she did get around a fair bit.

For example, Peggy " _Seraph"_ Vears. She was a support officer, ranked as a captain who worked with arguably the second best squad that XCom managed to pull together, call-sign _Striker_. During their last mission, a raid on a heavily fortified Advent controlled area. Normally, Alpha would be the ones to do this level of mission, but the entire squad was on a covert ops mission which would be next to impossible to extract them from. So Striker went in their stead and performed quite well. However, they were discovered, and Peggy was one of the casualties. She died to a Berserker when she was trying to save a group of civilians who wandered into the crossfire. Her body was recovered and cremated, stored in the vault of the Avenger.

And more recently, an official XCom cemetery had been established, commemorating those who had fought and died to ensure humanity's survival. And if fate had its way, she would have to regrettably add another to her list of casualties.

"GOD DAMN IT!" She screamed, punching the wall hard enough for it to crack, her psionic energies taking the brunt of the damage for her, "GOD DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!"

"Commander? Are you… good over there?" Bradford asked cautiously. He'd seen this side of her before… and it was neither pretty nor fun and not the least bit safe to be around.

"No Bradley, I am fine, I AM PERFECTLY FUCKING FINE!" She replied sarcastically, "OF COURSE I AM NOT FINE, YOU TWAT! I JUST LOST SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ON THE GOD FORSAKEN WORLD, SO NO, I MIGHT FEELING BE A TAD BIT LESS THAN FINE BECAUSE I SENT THEM OFF TO DIE!"

"Commander, you can't shoulder all this blame on yourself," Lily interjected in hopes of calming down the raging woman, "I was the one who found the signal and Bradford was the one who wanted to follow it."

"AND I AGREED WITH IT!" She yelled, crushing her glass, "I could've said 'No, we can't do that, it's to dangerous!' Or, 'No, that's stupid, we shouldn't risk your lives!' But no, fuck me I had to say go ahead! Look for your mysterious signal! I'm to blame! No one else but me!"

"You're insane," Bradford muttered under his breath, "Commander, we're all to blame. And for fuck sakes, we don't even know if they're dead! All we know is that they've disappeared! If they had died anywhere on the planet, Geist would be able to track down their Psionic signature. And if they can't, they aren't dead!"

"How do you know that!?" she retorted, "How do you know they're still alive!?" And when no response came from the other two people in the bar, she roared, "EXACTLY!"

"And now I'm going to go and wallow in my sorrows," the commander said, "With my bottle of fine wine…"

"And sappy Rom-Coms?"

"And sappy Rom-Coms."

As she turned to exit the room, the Commander smiled softly, a single tear falling from her watery eyes, "I'm… sorry about that, Brad, Lily. I really am. It's just… hard to lose them…"

"It was hard on all of us, Commander, trust me," Bradford replied, "Just… try to keep a bit of hope that they're alive. If not for me and Lily and Tygan, do it for the troops. Stay strong, Commander."

She smiled, grabbing the bottle of wine and a new glass and walking quickly back up to her room. If there was one thing she could take away from that argument of sorts, it was that she did need to stay strong for her troops. After all, if your leader was depressed, wouldn't you also be depressed?

* * *

 _ **Please R & R and guess who the Commander actually is!**_

 _ **See ya! Bye!**_


	5. The Black Beasts and the CCTs

_**Holla, I'm back with my first chapter of 2019 and HOLY FUCK, lets see how this goes. I'm ready for a new year to come, go and fuck the world up as it does! Who else is ready to see what this amazing year has in store for us?**_

 _ **No one? Okay** **then, guess it's just me. On that note, Disclaimers.**_

 _ **Xcom is to Firaxis and RWBY is to RT but holy shit if they were to me. Oh the fun I would have.**_

 _ **On that note, how are you all liking RWBY season 6? I'm liking the direction they're heading with the story and what not, but there are a few things I would like to see. Ah well, that's what Fanfiction is for, am I right?**_

* * *

 _Ozpin's tower, the Day after the Dance…_

"They were HERE, Ozpin!"

"Yes, James, we realize that. We are taking steps to remedy this as we speak."

Darren sighed as he watched Ironwood and Glynda argue over the simplest of matters. You see, last night, the CCTS tower was infiltrated by an unknown masked aggressor. Said aggressor had dispatched multiple Atlesian troops, some unconscious, some flat out dead, and had moved to the control room of the CCTS tower, and had done… something in there. Unfortunately, no one knew what that something was.

As for why Darren was the only person from Alpha there, Gabriel and Angela were back patrolling the city because that's what they were assigned to do and Anne was off reviewing the damages done to the CCTS by the infiltrator.

"Remedy the situation Faster!"

"OH SHUT IT IRONWOOD!"

Everyone turned to see Darren facepalming, looking quite annoyed at the General. Ironwood growled, "And **WHY** would I do **THAT** , Mr Yip? We are in a state of crisis, Someone went into the CCTS and…"

"I know that Woody, I know that," Darren spat back, "Trust me. But that is no reason to keep living in the past! Yeah, they got into the CCTS, yeah they did a thing there, and no, there is no way for us to go to the fucking past and change what happened."

"That's why I am trying to fix it now!" Ironwood countered, slamming his fist into the table.

"And you aren't doing shit!" Darren retorted, "You're leaving the fucking CCTS alone even though you know that you wouldn't just go in there to update your Social media status! You know something is going on and you are willingly letting the CCTS stay active!"

"We are leaving the CCTS active because it is the lifeblood of Remnant. Without it, the public would be in disarray," Ozpin interjected in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Remnant is gonna be in much more disarray if you leave it and let whatever they did do it's work," Darren said, "The one thing you seem to always forget is that **I've. Done. This. Before.** XCom once pressed a single button and brought an entire. **FUCKING! WORLD! TO ITS KNEES!** "

"And if you're wondering the specifics of how we did it, infecting communications is a great place to start," he continued, "Here's the thing. If they manage to knock out communications permanently, this entire city is fucked. And depending on how your network works, all the communications in the world will be fucked."

Glynda growled at the man's use of foul language, but she acknowledged that he did indeed have a point, "So, would you kindly lay out a plan to remedy this issue, if you know so much about it?"

"Remedy?" Darren laughed, "The only way to fix this issue is to do a controlled shutdown of the entire CCTS network in Vale and let some professionals handle whatever they did to the damn thing."

"And what about our situation while the CCTS is down? You just said that would be the perfect time to strike us," Glynda inquired as Darren gave a sigh.

"Well, here's the thing, Glynda. It is and it isn't," Darren replied, "True, the CCTS is down, but it's down for everyone and they haven't made their move yet. We are in control of the situation, not them. We have the upper hand and we are the ones calling the shots. If they are the ones to down the CCTS, they can do it at their own discretion, which can catch us off guard."

Darren took a sip of water and continued, "Secondly, the world hasn't gone to shit yet. We have an idea of what they plan on doing because of past experiences. If we let people know that the tower and the networks are going down, less panic and lessening the impact that it has."

Ozpin nodded in agreement, "You make a fair point, Mr. Yip. However, right now we cannot afford to shut down the CCTS right now. The student trips are going out today and it could be devastating to have no ability to contact them."

As Darren began to roll his eyes again, shuddering at Ozpin's stupidity, the elevator door dinged open and one little Ruby Rose walked out, "Heh heh, sorry it took so long. Someone hit all the buttons in the elevator on the way up here… It wasn't me!"

Darren bit his lip to avoid chuckleing at the little girl's expense, as he and Ozpin stood up with Glynda and Ironwood, "Ms. Rose. Thank you for coming. How are you feeling today?"

Ruby smiled meekly, "I'd feel better if my bad guy catching record wasn't zero to three…"

"Hey, hey. Don't put yourself down like that," Darren interjected, "You caught Torchwick last time, so it's more like one in three."

Ironwood rolled his eyes, walking over to Ruby and placing a single hand on her shoulder, "Ruby, I just wanted you to know that what you did last night, taking initiative like that is exactly what being a huntress is all about."

"Thank you, sir," Ruby replied with a cheery smile on her face.

Ozpin chuckled, "Ruby, your actions were admirable, but we do already know the circumstances. We called you here to see if you had anything to add."

"Well… Umm…" Ruby began, "The person I fought was wearing a mask and fought with glass… I don't think that was her semblance, though."

"And by glass, you mean…?" Darren inquired.

"Easily broken constructs," Ozpin explained, "So it could be described as glass, in a way."

Darren nodded, "That clears that up. Ruby, you may continue."

"Oh, and her clothing lit up whenever she attacked me."

A moment of pause came over the room, only for Glynda to break said silence by saying, "Save for the glass, that sounds like the woman I fought the night we met Ruby, Ozpin."

"Embedding dust into clothing is an age old technique, it could have been anyone," Ironwood countered, leaving Darren stunned at the revelation.

" _So these guys put highly explosive materials that can be used as weapons… In their fucking clothing."_ Darren thought, rubbing his chin, " _Do these fucks have no sense of personal safety?"_

"Wait," Ruby said, interrupting Darren's train of thought, "Do you think that this girl is connected to Torchwick and the White Fang?"

"Could be," Darren replied, "Since we have Torchy in custody, we could ask him about it. If some one would let us interrogate him!"

"Gabriel cut off his arm, Darren. He requires medical attention!" Ironwood said, causing Darren to facepalm, "Once he has made a recovery, then we can interrogate him. I will go talk to him tonight, if that helps."

"ARGH!" Darren groaned, turning his attention from the incompetent General to the little reaper, "Alrighty Ruby, anything else you might have seen or heard from her?"

"Actually, I do remember her saying something about a hidden base or a hideout or somthing…" Ruby muttered, "In the southeast, I think. Just outside the kingdom."

Ozpin gained a confused look on his face, before smiling and saying, "Interesting."

"I thought you said the Intruder didn't say…" Glynda began, only to be cut off by Ozpin. Darren got a chuckle out of Glynda's humiliation, but that's just normal for him.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ruby," Ozpin calmly said, "Now, why don't you go and spend some time with your team? You have a big day ahead of you, after all."

"Anytime, professors!" Ruby cheerly replied as she began to walk off, only for Darren to clear his throat.

As Ruby turned back to look at the assembled professors, Darren said, "Please Ms Rose, remember to be discreet with this information."

Ruby nodded in reply and entered the elevator down the tower. The four members of Ozpin's inner circle sighed, each for their own reasons. Ironwood because he was itching to display Atlas's military might to the world to prove to Ozpin that they had nothing to fear, Glynda because she knew what James was thinking, Ozpin himself was think about how he could… manipulate… event to go in his favor. And Darren? Darren was thinking about how hilarious this whole conversation had been.

Firstly, Ruby is just hilarious, regardless of how dire the situation was. Secondly, while he couldn't read minds, he was very adept at reading emotion from people.

"Well, there we have it," Ironwood stated, breaking his train of thought, "We send as many troops as we can to the south-east, find out what's going on and eradicate any resistance in our way."

"Why must your answer to everything be a triumphant display of military bravado?!" Glynda questioned, "Do you always have to treat everything like its a contest of measuring di…"

"Glynda."

Darren rolled his eyes as Ozpin diffused the situation between the general and the witch, "She isn't wrong, y'know."

"I know she isn't," Ozpin replied softly, "But that doesn't make it any more necessary."

Darren looked in Ironwood's direction with a small laugh, "Look, Ironwood. Just throwing as many troops as you can at a problem isn't going to make it disappear. It'll just make it that much worse."

"And what do you mean by that, Mr. Yip?"

"Your troops are already spread pretty thin, sending any out will just fuck up our defences," Darren commented, "In my mind, sending an army in to do the work of a few skilled individuals is a big waste. Plus, it would make us look scared."

"How would sending in the army make us look scared?"

"To put it very bluntly, Ironwood," Darren began, "An entire military detachment would make us look like we're going to war, which we aren't going to do. Wars on terror never work out well. A small group, maybe some Spec Ops forces from your military, could get in and get out without causing any disturbance to the general public."

"But we are going to war, Mr. Yip! The general public deserves to know about this!" Ironwood countered, slamming his prosthetic arm into the table.

"Do they deserve to know about this little group of ours?" Darren questioned, taking the other three members of Ozpin's group back, "Do they deserve to know about the maidens or the Relics or anything like that? No, they don't! Because they don't fucking need to! As much as I love telling people the truth, and believe me, I do, you tell them the whole truth or none of the truth."

Darren then continued, "The more people know, the more they start questioning, thinking for themselves. And as much as I hate playing this game this way, right now it is very, very crucial that we keep everything that is discussed in this room and about our little secret war to keep the maidens safe between us. Hell, back home, people responded horribly to the thought that a social media network might be selling their personal information to people. When they are the people who put it out there to begin with."

Ozpin cocked his eyebrow, "How exactly does a social media network have anything to do with terrorists?"

"I'm just trying to say that we should keep this on the down low," Darren replied, "You know what they say, Ignorance is bliss. And if what you're saying is true, Ozpin, we want to give these people as much bliss as possible, because it ain't gonna last."

With that, Darren walked out of the office, leaving the three members of Ozpin's group stewing in their thoughts. At least until Ozpin remembered he had to give a speech.

* * *

 _Avenger Command Deck… one month or so after the disappearance of Alpha Squad…_

Like most days, the Commander sauntered around the command deck, looking over missions, contacting Volk and the Reapers, Betos and the Skirmishers, as well as Geist and the Templars. Today, was not like most days. Rather, it was more like the past month, the Commander sulking, still reviewing missions, but at a much slower pace.

"Hey, Bradley," She called out, "What's with the recon teams we sent into the ruins of Beijing earlier this week? They haven't done their check in today."

Bradford shrugged, "Heck if I know. Major Ferris has always been on top of it. Maybe he just slept in a bit late and forgot to clock it in."

"Are you sure? Beijing was pretty filled to the brim with the Lost last I checked," She commented, "Fuck… I swear, if something happened to them…"

"Commander, they're fine, nothing to worry about," Bradford replied as he looked at a datapad, "Major Ferris is skilled in dealing with the Lost. He'll be fine."

"I'd be more convinced if I had some proof," she muttered, "Something, anything, saying they're ok. Hell, even if they called in to say, 'Fuck you Commander.' I'd be happy."

Bradford laughed out loud, "Really, them just calling to say fuck you would be great?"

"Yeah," the Commander shrugged, "Better than not knowing where they are, y'know? At least if they say 'Commander, Fuck you!' I'd know that they're still alive."

"Fair, fair," Bradford responded, flipping through his data pad, "On the bright side, Washington and New York's construction efforts have doubled and Toronto and Chicago are nearly finished. The world is coming together nicely again, ain't it, Commander?"

"It sure is better than the trash heap we had a decade ago, Bradley," she agreed, "Still, only a quarter of the major city centers on the planet are actually clean of radiation and the Lost."

"Only a quarter is better than none, I guess," Bradford sighed, "You know, I remember back in the good old days, visiting London with my parents, eating classic French food in Paris. Hell, I even went to the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver. That was really something."

The Commander looked confused, "The Olympics are?"

"Did no one tell you about the Olympics?" Bradford gawked, "You've been here for a decade and no one has said shit about the Olympics?"

"Well I'm sorry! I was sort of busy trying to survive out in the middle of butt fuck nowhere with an alien army on our ass 24/7!"

"Okay then Commander," Bradford relented, "If no one told you about the Olympics, guess its my job. The Olympics are a sports tournament that all the countries in the world compete in, sending their best and brightest to all number of sporting events. They range from downhill skiing and Bobsledding in the Winter games to Taekwondo and Volleyball in the Summer games."

"So it's basically a big tournament for the world to compete at," the commander noted, "Seems cool."

"You have anything like that back home?"

"Yeah, something like that," she replied as she sat at the holomap's terminal, "Though it was more just about fighting if anything. You know, how you coordinate a team, and how skilled you personally are."

Bradford chuckled, "So that's why you're so good at being a leader, eh?"

"Not really, no," she stated, "I was good at coordinating a small team back then, but now? Now I can keep on top of twenty four different squadrons ranging in size from four to six people total. I'd say I've gotten better."

"That you have, Commander," Bradford replied, "That you h…"

"COMMANDER! CENTREL!"

"What is it, officer?" Bradford called, as a distressed comms officer rushed over to himself and the Commander, "Is something wrong?"

"Damn straight it is, Centrel," the officer replied, "One of Ferris' officers just reported back in. Said they were attacked."

"Lost?"

The officer shook her head, "Not Lost, sir. Fuck, sir, he couldn't even give me a good description of what the hell we are going at here."

"Kira, look at me," the Commander said, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder, "What happened? What did they say?"

"The things were big, black, red glowy eyes. Apparently they came out of nowhere, surprised the balls of the recon group," the officer said, the pace of her words frantic and barely understandable, "Most of them went down with little to no resistance, apparently one or two shots from a plasma rifle downed them. The bigger ones took a few more shots, four or five from a rifle and two or three from a heavier weapon."

"Black?" the commander, "Like, pitch black, big, furry? That?"

"Commander, all Captain Crenshaw said was, and I quote, " _Masive black things just fucking crawled outta the fuckin' woodworks! They got Ferris and Morgan! We have two wounded and need evac asap!"_ That's when he killed the line."

The Commander was awestruck and terrified at the same time upon hearing what the communications officer had just said. She stole a glance at Bradford, who just looked confused, but her own worries got the best of her.

"Bradley, I'm going in."

"Wait, what?"

"I said," The commander strode to the door of the command deck at a quick and deliberate pace, "I'm going in. Get me Warlock, Mox and Outrider. We're getting them out of there."

"Commander, you can't be…"

"I am more than fucking serious, Bradley," she replied, "There are people who need my help and I can. So I fucking will."

* * *

Three minutes later and a fully suited-up Commander marched her way to the Skyranger. She had donned her white/red-coloured Warden armour, her Psionic rifle on her back and her precious sword at her hip, sheathed and secured.

To say the Commander was furious with her luck was an understatement. After ten years of waiting for a sign that she could go home, she got one. But like winning the lottery of the biggest loser, _this_ was the sign she got.

" _Of fucking course…"_ she thought venomously, " _Of course this happened. Of course, fate would do this to me. Because apparently fate thinks I haven't been fucked over enough."_

"Commander!"

She turned towards the voice, seeing Warlock, a male Templar warrior who had joined XCom a little over a year ago at the request of Gheist, his leader. She smiled, "Hey Warlock, you ready?"

The Templar nodded, "As always, Commander. My blades are ready to strike. Mox and Outrider are already in the Skyranger and Firebrand is just preparing the launch sequences. We're ready to go when you are."

"Then let's fucking get moving," the Commander replied, the two swiftly marching to the Skyranger entrance.

As the two got in, the Skyranger took off after getting clearance from Central. The ride to Beijing took about fifteen minutes total, most of it being sat in complete silence as the group contemplated the new threat of which they were faced with.

"Crenshaw, are you there?" Firebrand asked over comms, "Crenshaw, come in."

All the team heard on the other end was static for a good minute, before someone came online, " _Firebrand… copy… this… Corporal Tavares… meet… at… Bird's nest… out…"_

As soon as the private finished, the line cut out, "Firebrand, pull us over to the Bird's nest, now! Double time it!"

" _Got it, Commander!"_ Firebrand replied as she shot the Skyranger forward at impossibly fast speeds to the Stadium. As they were flying, Outrider snuck a peek on one of the cameras, only to close it down with a pale face.

"Oh dear fuck…" was all the stunned woman could say.

The rest of the group was similarly stunned at Outrider's reaction. The hardened survivor and elite of the Reaper's was rarely ever frightened by anything, let alone by what might have been just simple Lost.

Mox, being the inquisitive man he was (And simultaneously trying to figure out what was making one of the most dangerous people he knew look terrified), asked, "Outrider, what did you see out there?"

"Does Beijing have a werewolf problem?"

Total silence followed her question, with more of a problem being that no one knew how to answer it.

"A… werewolf… problem?" Warlock inquired, "You do know werewolves are fictional, right?"

"Well, if they are, explain the hundred or so werewolves out running through the streets of Beijing right now," Outrider responded as Warlock rolled his eyes and opened up one of the screens.

"Werewolves my as…" he stopped mid sentence, obviously stunned by the scene before him, "Commander, did you know about this?"

She shrugged, "Partially. I needed to confirm if they're actually what I think they are, though."

"What are they? Some sick fucking advent experiment that just go loose?"

The Commander looked on sullenly, "No, they aren't. They're the monsters of the past. My past, specifically."

"You're past…?"

"Tell you about it later," She said, brushing off the question, "Firebrand, how close are we to the AO?"

" _On top, Commander. Menace, you ready to drop?"_

"Affirmative, Firebrand, we're good. Let's save our people."

And with that, Menace dropped out of the Skyranger, like they had done so many times before, landing in the direct middle of the Bird's Nest Stadium. Within a minute of landing on the ground, they saw what remained of the six person squad rushing towards them. They really had taken heavy casualties.

Of the six people sent three were still walking, two were being carried, and one was nowhere to be found, presumed KIA. If this is the result of the attack, Major Ferris and his team must have been half asleep not to notice the ruckus that the black… things... were making.

And only half a second after they entered the arena, the hoard arrived.

" _No no no no no no… OH FOR FUCK SAKES!"_ The Commander thought to herself, "FUCKING OPEN FIRE ON THE BASTERDS! GET OUR PEOPLE OUT OF HERE!"

With that, the group began raining hell on the advancing enemies, laying waste to any and all opposition. However, this did little to slow down the advancing black cretians. Not that they weren't dying, rather it was the opposite.

"There are to many of them!" Warlock called out as he shot a larger wolf like… thing, "We'll be overrun!"

"We're not leaving until we get our people out of here, understood?!"

"Understood, but…"

"No fucking buts, just keep firing!"

The group continued to fire, as the remainder of the recon team drew closer to them. Upon closer inspection, the two carrying the wounded troops were Cpt. Merek Jenkins, a specialist vet from Australia, and Cpl. Teodoro Tavares, a Brazilian, the man who spoke to them over the comms and a ranger of great promise. From what it looked like, the only squad member who wasn't carrying a person was Tisha Nikitovich, a female reaper better known as Exile, who was taking potshots at the beasts tailing them.

"MOVE IT! COME ON, FASTER!" The Commander shouted, using her Psi rifle to obliterate the black abominations from existence. The HE (High Explosive) rounds Tygan and Shen cooked up in the proving grounds seemed to do more than enough to rid the world of those abominations.

As Jenkins and Tavares got closer, The Commander noticed who they were carrying, namely Ferris and Morgan, both beat up, brused, almost dead. What medical supplies they team had was most likely used on the two, keeping them stable and what not.

"Jenkins," She asked, "Fuck is Crenshaw?!"

"They got Crenshaw on the way back, Boss," Jenkins replied, "Is Firebrand good to go? We need to move, and now!"

Just as she was about to reply, a shrill shrike was heard from Exile's direction, as one of the black wolf things tackled her to the ground. Thinking little of her own self preservation, The Commander rushed at the wolf, drawing her brilliantly shining sword.

"HEY!" She shouted in challenging defiance, drawing the wolf's attention, "TWIT! COME GET SOME!"

The wolf respond in kind, roaring and pouncing at her. The fight, if anyone could say it was actually a fight, ended quickly, the commander rolling under one of its swipes. She brought her sword up, directly into the gut of the monster and slashed down, drawing a deep vertical line in the creature's chest. With the black wolf out of the way, the commander rushed forward, picking up Exile in her arms. Unfortunately, it would seem that Exile was… lacking.

" _Oh shit… she's missing her leg…"_ she thought as the reaper howled in pain as she picked the her up, "Exile's missing a leg! We got serious wounded here! Firebrand! Get everyone inside the fucking Skyranger now!"

"Understood!"

Everyone rushed to the open and waiting ramp of the Skyranger, the ramp closed up and the Skyranger took off into the sky. As soon as they were safe and in the air, Jenkins began applying a nanomedikit onto Exile's leg… or what was left of it.

"Fucking hell, that thing tore her leg clean off at the knee," Jenkins muttered, "Commander, Outrider, hold her still while I bandage this thing up. We might need to amputate this thing."

"Amputate?!" Exile screamed.

"Yes, Tisha. Amputate," Outrider said as she cradled her friend's head, "Your leg looks bad. Whatever was in that wolf thing's mouth is making your leg turn black."

" _Wait… this didn't happen before… this isn't normal… What's going on?"_ The Commander thought, confused as she helped hold down Exile, " _Last time I remember a Grimm biting someone, this black shit didn't infect them…"_

A few minutes later and the leg was bandaged up, and the other two wounded were taken care of. Ferris had a relatively minor wounds, though he did have a concussion of all things, which was to be expected seeing how he was unconscious and all. Morgan on the other hand was… worse for wear. She had some deep cuts in her abdomen, which were treated as soon as they got in the Skyranger, so she didn't bleed out.

"How did this happen?" The Commander blurted out, "How did you guys get ambushed?"

"Happened outta nowhere, Boss," Jenkins replied as he, Tavares and Mox continued to patch up Morgan, "Fuckers literally crawled outta nowhere. We were camping on a roof near the Nest and these fuckers showed up and disturbed our little peace. Tavares, Tisha and I were on watch, which is why we're the only ones in gear. We tried to get 'em off us best we could, but more and more kept comin' and comin'. Ferris was the first one up out of the sleepers, and he quickly got taken down by one of the wolf things and got concussed. I shot it off him and we gathered up to move out and contact you for evac."

Warlock looked confused, "So where is Crenshaw?"

"Crenshaw got hit after he called in to you guys. Big bird thing shot a feather that guted the poor bastard. Killed him instantly, so he didn't have to suffer being eaten by those things. Morgan got caught by a bear like fucker a short while after, gashed her stomach open. We killed it and patched her up best we could while we were running, but it wasn't easy. Dunno how much longer we could've been out there if it wasn't for you guys making a heroic entrance and getting us out of there."

Everyone looked down in sadness. Cpt. Marvin Crenshaw was a charismatic douche most of the time, but he was really friendly, and a caring bastard at that. On the Avenger, he was sort of like everyone's best friend and just an all around goofball. And now, like so many others, he was dead.

"No body, right?" the Commander sighed, "When we get back, I need to send a message to the guys at the UN. Tell 'em we've got another name to inscribe on the monuments."

* * *

 _CCTS Tower, similar time…_

Anne was hard at work on her computer, fiddling around with the files as Asimov did the same to other files. With her skills in hacking, this **should** have taken no time at all, finding and deleting a recently uploaded file that supposedly contained a virus. However, just because something should be easy, doesn't mean it is. Ozpin just had to point out that the student field trips were going out today and because of that, the CCTS couldn't be shut down for maintenance.

Which just meant more and more files flying through.

Mind you, the virus uploaded to the CCTS would most likely end up targeting a very specific application or product, but what the target was had yet to be revealed.

That being said, finding and safely removing the virus would be a lot easier if the fucking CCTS was down. With all the new files passing through and stuff, sifting through the metaphorical mountain of code was nearly impossible.

" _Fuck me… I'm gonna need the Shadow Chamber if I want to make any good progress,_ " She thought, " _So many fucking files! Anyone of these could set off the virus…"_

Anne internally began to scream at herself, " _Wait… if any one of these could trigger the virus to go off… well, that just makes my life even harder…!"_

"Wellllllllll… FUCK!"

Anne slammed her head into the dest, hard enough to dent the desk, at least a few centimetres inwards.

" _Shiiiiiiiiitttttttttt…"_ she thought, " _That's gonna sting tomorrow morning…"_

She sighed, closing her laptop in a fit of exhausted annoyance, "Hey, bud. Let's get going, we've got places to be."

Asimov nodded (if drones can nod), and the two set off back to the residences. On their way back, they saw not nearly as many students in the halls.

" _Oh right… field trips…"_ She thought, " _They're going out today… shit, does that mean that we're being assigned teams?"_

Quickly, Anne pulled out her scroll and dialled up Darren, "Hey babe… do you…"

"Know if we're being put in charge of a team for the field trip?" he smugly responded, "Yeah, no. Ozzy is having us do patrols around the city. He wants us to be on call for anything that might happen in the city."

"So we don't get a break?"

"Nope," Darren sighed, "Then again, this is more of a break than we've had in a while. At least we can go through the city and have a bit of fun."

"Or we could stay in the room and have a bit of fun…" Anne teased, "If you know what I mean…"

"Hmmm, I think I know what you mean, my love. Anything specific you want to do tonight?"

Anne tensed, "Well… there is something I have to tell you… before anything goes ahead, at least."

"What's up, babe? Something wrong?"

Slowly, if somewhat unconsciously, Anne drifted her hand down to her stomach, "Well, you remember that one night, about a month before we landed in this shit show?"

"Umm, yeah. I re…" Darren began to speak, but suddenly cut himself off, realizing where this was going, "Oh… right. You're…"

"Yeah… I'm..."

"Pregnant," They both said at the same time.

Darren sighed happily, "When did you find out, babe?"

"A day ago I took a test, after I missed my period," Anne nervously mumbled, "Came back positive, and I was trying to think up a way to let you know. And then I went and did this."

"That's… tha…" Darren stuttered, before shouting in joy, "Duhh… THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME!"

Then Anne heard Darren's scroll clattered to the floor as she heard him run around the room shouting, "I AM GOING TO BE A DAD! FUCK YEAH!"

When he finally was over his overreacting, Darren finally came back and picked up the scroll, "Just one thing."

"What?"

"How the fuck do you change a diaper?" he jokingly inquired.

Anne sighed. This was gonna be one hell of a year.

* * *

Roman Torchwick woke up in a dark room with but a single, dim light on it's ceiling. He looked around, noting the room looked more like a cell than anything else. Then again, he was arrested earlier this week and taken into Atlesian custody, so being in a cell didn't surprises him.

"Had a nice rest, Mr. Torchwick?"

Roman laughed, "Could've been a bit longer."

"Then that's one thing that we can agree on, Mr Torchwick," the voice smugly replied, "Neither of us have gotten nearly enough sleep. You because you haven't really had a very nice place to sleep and me because I have a job to do."

"True enough," Torchwick said, "So… why are you here, if I may ask."

The person laughed, "Quite simply, I am here ask you a few questions, Mr. Torchwick. Answer them in a way I deem fit, and I will…" the voice paused.

"Will what?"

"Let's just say I can make your life much harder, or much easier, depending on how you answer the questions."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really," a glass of bourbon suddenly landed on a table, "I heard bourbon is good for nulling pain. Want some?"

"What do you mean 'Nulling pain?' I'm fine."

"Huh, the doctors did a better job than I thought," the voice replied, "So you don't remember your arm getting cut off, do you?"

"Oh… right…" Roman reminisce, grunting in disdain and glancing down at his stump and the remnant of his beautiful arm, "By the way, where the fuck is the guy who did this? I want to give him a piece of my mind."

"Oh don't worry about that," the voice said again, "All you need to worry about is telling me what I want to know."

Roman gave a skeptical look in the direction of the voice, "Alrighty, and what, might I ask, is in this for me?"

"I assume some sort of freedom is quite high on the list of things you would like right now, correct?" the voice taunted, "Possibly a new arm. Maybe even a new life for you, Mr. Torchwick. You see, we are willing to negotiate to get what we want, and no, we won't kill you or torture you, because that violates our rights act in Vale. But we can make your life very, very hard."

"Give us what we want, and you can leave and go into hiding," the voice said, it's tone very threatening, "Refuse, and eventually we will just lock you up and destroy the key. The choice is entirely your, Mr. Torchwick."

The voice paused, "Now," it began again, "Do we have a deal, Mr. Torchwick?"

Torchwick himself gave pause to the statement, thinking through the options. If he could string the people out with information, he would definitely be safer than giving them everything at once. After all, Cinder was definitely still mad at him for… y'know, failing at his mission.

If he could string them along, he would be under Atlesian protection, which would make it almost impossible for Cinder to fuck with him. And on top of that, he could get all the benefits of cooperation.

Torchwick steeled himself, "I'll think about it. Now may I please have some bourbon?"

Two white-gloved hands reached out of the shadows, one picking up the bourbon bottle and the other picking up a glass, pouring a small bit of the liquor into the cup, "Of course, Mr. Torchwick, of course."

* * *

 ** _So I was originally going to have Gabriel or Darren straight up torture Torchwick to get the stuff out of him, but I decided to not. Not saying it wont happen, just not yet._**

 ** _Also, can you guess the commander? I was originally going to leave another hint with the name of Darren and Anne's child, but that was to obvious, so I cut it._**

 ** _And finally, I was planning on having a "After this story finished" story crossover with Fate/Stay night and stuff. Haven't actually got that down yet, but if anyone has extensive knowledge on Fate... Please help me._**

 ** _Anyhow, see y'all in the next update. Narsauce, out!_**


	6. Lost and Found

**_Oh hello there my dudes, it's me, Narsauce, back at it again with another chapter of this. I finished this chapter earlier than I thought I would, so I decided to put it out. Now my mind has wandered a bit, and yes I do know my writing of combat can be... lackluster at times. But I did it! We're officially off the train of RWBY season two and into season three. I think_**

 ** _As for the story itself, this is now my main focus. As much as I hate doing this, "Of Angels, Demons and Hunters" is now dead in the water. I just found it to difficult, mainly because I didn't know where I was going with it._**

 ** _But this story? I know where I'm going. And oh boy will I need to do some research if I'm gonna do what I'm planning._**

 ** _Answering the most recent review: No, I won't do Rosewick, mainly because I'm as basic as a blond-haired white chick who goes to Starbucks every day and buys fucking vanilla fraps. So I'm pretty fucking basic and my ships are as well._**

 ** _Disclaimers: RWBY is RT and Xcom is Firaxis and now we are good to go._**

* * *

 _Mount Glenn, the day of the Breach…_

The alpha Beowulf ran. From what, it didn't know, only that it had to keep running. These… things… they looked like the prey its mistress wanted it to hunt, but they weren't like the prey. No, they weren't.

These prey came, with no sense of the self-preservation that it saw in other prey, or even in itself. These prey were numerous, and it's pack felled many with their claws and fangs. But unlike the other prey, these showed no fear, for still, even after he and his pack slaughtered numberless amounts of these prey they still came.

And eventually, the alpha's pack fell, one by one, the prey tearing through them with their bare hands, ripping and shredding the pack members. It was unlike the prey to fight in such ways. Normally, the prey would use their souls and weapons, but these… things… they were…

Dead… these prey were simply dead… they had no souls… not like the other prey that it had hunted…

The alpha could sense a residual soul in these humans, but it was just that, residual. It could have at one point been used like the other prey it hunted, but now it was only present as a mark, a faint scent of something that had once been…

It then rounded a corner, only to find another group of the same prey who fought it's pack earlier, twenty strong. The group of prey noticed the alpha, turning towards the massive wolf and moaning. The alpha readied itself against the small horde. It knew it would die, but it didn't care.

All it wanted to do was kill these prey.

* * *

 _Elsewhere..._

"This place is creepy."

"Ruby, it's an abandoned city crawling with Grimm, it's supposed to be creepy."

"But this is more creepy. Those moans and stuff, those are very, very creepy."

Weiss sighed as she and Ruby continued to sit around their group's campsite in Mt. Glenn. Over the past hour or two, low moans had been heard throughout the city, along with the noises of violent clashes between Grimm and… something else. So in response, Ruby and Weiss took a watching shift to give everyone else a bit of sleep, mainly because they couldn't due to a combination of Yang's own snoring and insistent moaning that permeated the city.

"Those moans are soooo creepy…" Ruby muttered, "They don't sound like Grimm. They sound…"

"Human… I know."

Another, louder moan permeated the air, this time slightly closer. Ruby perked up, obviously terrified, rushing over to her companion. She began to shiver erratically, terrified of the noise. Weiss couldn't blame her, the noises were terrifying her as well, though she did her best to keep her cool.

Ruby huddled in closer to Weiss, causing the older girl to wince, "Weiss, I'm scared… What if there are zombies!"

"Zombies?" Weiss chuckled. " _Zombies? Really Ruby?"_

"Zombies don't exist, Ruby," Weiss smiled, "They're only in bad movies and stuff like them. No need to be worried."

Ruby sighed and gave Weiss a very skeptical look, "Weiss, we fight monsters that like the smell of hate and anger and stuff using personalized superpowers based on who we are, all while attending a school about how to fight monsters. I fight with a scythe that is seven feet long and can transform into a sniper rifle, and you fight with a revolver/rapier hybrid thing. So are zombies that far of a stretch?"

"Well… when you put it like that…" Weiss responded, "Nope, zombies are still ridiculous in my mind. A resurrected corpse is just… absurd!"

"Absurd doesn't mean impossible…"

"But…"

"Ah ah ah ah ah," Ruby shushed Weiss up, "It isn't impossible, therefore there are zombies."

"Whatever you say, Ruby, whatever you say."

The two continued to sit around the campsite for half an hour making small talk with the occasional moan permeating the air. Other than that, nothing really happened, as the moans of the… zombies, as Ruby had dubbed them, seemed to stay far away from the group. At least, far enough away that they didn't actually need to do anything. That is, they did, until…

"Hey Weiss," Ruby asked nervously, "What's that grey thing?"

Weiss turned, looking in the direction Ruby was so fearfully gazing in. What she saw was… well, what the hell did she really expect? She saw a… zombie… of course Ruby was right.

Ruby quickly pulled out Crescent Rose in its sniper form, firing two shots off, each one impacting the creature's skull, caving it inward. The zombie crumpled to the ground, dead, the light of its eyes fading. But Ruby didn't stop shooting, not until the corpse had been riddled with holes, some taking off sizeable chunks of the zombie's body.

"Ruby!" Weiss said, placing her hand on her friend's shoulder, "I think it's dead."

"It was already dead! I have to make it more dead!" Ruby shouted, unloading another shot into the zombie's skull.

However, almost as soon as Ruby unloaded that last round, the two heard a loud, raspy moan coming from somewhere else in the city, followed by a loud howl, the breaking of glass and the shuffling of hundreds of feet. Ruby looked at Weiss, the two nodding in understanding. Quickly, Ruby rushed into Oobleck's tent, while Weiss rushed into the Team's tent.

"Yang, Blake, get up," Weiss said as she flung both their weapons and clothes at the two girls.

"Weiss… what's going on…" Yang moaned, her hair a complete mess and Zwei nestled somewhere in it.

"Zombies, lots of them, we have to go," Weiss replied as she plucked the corgi out of her teammate's hair and placed him in a bag, "No time to call a bullhead or pack up camp. We're on our own."

"Hold up," Blake cut Weiss off, "Did you just say, zombies? You know those are fictional, right?"

"That's what I told Ruby half an hour ago, look where it got me."

Blake rolled her eyes, as both she and Yang got dressed and armed. Weiss has already left the tent as she regrouped with Ruby and the professor, the latter examining the newly made dead-undead for anything of note.

"Simply amazing… if we weren't in such imminent danger, I would love to study this further," Oobleck muttered to himself before he noticed that the four girls had gathered behind him, "Ah, yes. Team RWBY. It has come to my attention that we have to leave, and right now. If my memory serves me correct, there should be an abandoned train station a little ways away from here. If we follow it, we will make it back to Vale in under a day, maybe even two hours or so."

Of course, being Oobleck, the man was hyped up of caffeine and next to impossible to understand, but they did get the general gist of the man's orders. The group nodded, and the five people (and a dog in a bag) began to move as a group towards the train station.

"So you weren't lying when you said Zombies, Weiss," Yang commented, "But these things don't look like the zombies you find in books. They look… weird."

"Precisely, Ms. Xiao-Long," Oobleck replied, "Unlike the normal zombie one finds in modern day pop culture, these zombies appear to be non-pathogenic, and on top of that, are quite… would squishy be the correct word? Whatever. They also appear to not possess any Grimm characteristics like black fur, bone masks or red eyes, which also rules out the possibility of them being a new strain of Grimm. Which means we are dealing with the complete unknown. It is imperative that we return to Beacon and I submit a complete report to Ozpin immediately."

The group continued to run in the direction of the station, all the while Oobleck continuing to spout off random theories in relation to what exactly these zombies were. It only took them ten minutes to reach the station, but unlike how Oobleck had described it, the station was most definitely NOT abandoned.

"White Fang," Blake sighed, "Why is it always the Fang?"

"So you're finally admitting that they are a problem?" Weiss smugly accused.

"I already have."

"Weiss now isn't the time to get high and mighty over the Fang," Ruby interrupted, "Right now we have to get back to Beacon. We can deal with the Fang later."

"We may not have a choice, Mr. Rose," Prof. Oobleck commented, "This is the only way back to Vale that won't take us absurd amounts of time. A conflict with the Fang is inevitable."

Yang smiled as she cocked her gauntlets, "Well, in that case, let…"

A loud moan howl was heard coming off from the distance. Almost immediately, the Fang grunts that were guarding the entrance of the station picked up their weapons and moved to form a defensive perimeter around the entrance. The grunts were visibly nervous, hands shaking and weapons trained in the direction of the noise.

Then came the horde.

Actually, calling this a horde would an insult, for this was larger than any horde of Grimm ever could be. Bodies too numerous to count flooded the street, charging forward. The grunts responded by opening fire, dust rounds were discharging and flying down the street, impacting the zombie's skull's and killing most of them instantly. But there were too many, and for everyone that died in the charge, ten more seemed to take its place.

Blake got up, preparing Gambol Shroud in its pistol configuration, "Guys, we need to help them. They'll be overrun soon."

Weiss looked skeptically at Blake, "What's to say they won't turn on us if we do?"

"Well they're gonna die if we don't and then the station is going to get overrun," Blake retorted, "And then we won't be able to get home."

"Well…"

"Weiss, Blake is right," Ruby said, "We should help them. If we do, they might help us get back to Vale quicker."

"But…"

"Weiss. Just do it."

"But I'm a…" Weiss began before she huffed and resigned, "Fine. I'll do it."

Weiss stood up, flicking Myrtenaster forward and shooting a blast of ice dust towards the oncoming horde. From it, sprung forth a massive wall of ice, curved towards the zombie horde with spikes. The Fang grunts looked surprised at the development, turning to the group of hunters with guns raised.

"Great job, Ruby," Weiss said, "Now they're pointing their guns at us."

Just then, the obvious leader of the group stepped forward, motioning his partner's to lower their guns. The Faunus man, a panther Faunus to be specific, took off his mask and lowered his hood, "Hunters! Thank you for helping us!"

"Ummm… you're welcome…?" Ruby shyly responded.

"Normally I'd hate helping humans, but seeing as how you saved our asses, it's only fair we return the favor," the Fang man said, "Oh, by the way, the name's Alec, if you're wondering."

"And yes, I do know who you are, _Schnee_ ," Alec seemed to spit distastefully, "But I'll disregard what your family has done to my people for now since you saved our collective asses from dying to… whatever those things are. Now move!"

Alec ushered them into the station, the group of five moving as quickly as they could with the White Fang grunts keeping up as best they could. Of course, they got weird looks as they passed through the Fang controlled station with Weiss Schnee, one of the main reasons they hate humans so much. Alec shouted some orders at some of the grunts present, who all began rapidly gathering weapons and moving supplies onto a train.

"I'm gonna be honest, kid," Alec said, looking at Weiss, "Despite you're families… horrendous treatment of Faunus, the fact that you managed to befriend Blake Belladonna…"

"How did you…"

"Look, Blake," Alec replied, "I'd recognize you anywhere. Your family was once the face of the White Fang and what it did right. We protested we weren't violent, we stayed in the right. And for you and Schnee here to become friends… well, that's telling. Of what exactly, I dunno, but it's telling."

"So you're helping us because of Blake?"

Alec shrugged, "Yes and no. Ms. Belladonna is one reason, but I also want to prove to Schnee here…"

"I have a name, you know."

"I do know, Weiss," Alec chuckled, "As I was saying, I want to prove that we aren't the bad guys. Not all of us at least. The group of Fang in this station are completely loyal to me, and we all hate how Adam Taurus is running shit. Hell, for whatever reason, Adam wanted us to load up the train with bombs to blow a hole in the middle of Vale to let the Grimm in. Seems stupid, if you ask me."

Oobleck was dumbfounded, "The Fang was planning on attacking Vale outright? What's the point of that?"

"Fuck if I know," Alec replied, "And there's no way I'd ever do it. I have two kids living in Vale and between putting their lives in danger or getting Adam pissed, I'd take Adam getting pissed any day."

"So what did you do if you didn't put bombs on the train?" Ruby asked.

"Supplies, weapons, other things," Alec said, "Our little group of seventy-three was planning on rebelling against the Fang sooner or later. And for most of us, it's personal. We're also planning on caving in the station, just to prevent anything from coming through here."

"Oh," Weiss commented, "That's good…"

"Thanks, kid…"

"SIR! THOSE THINGS ARE COMING BACK!"

Alec growled, his panther ears folding back, "Alright then! Pack everything up and move out! We're getting the fuck outta here! And blow that fucking entrance to shit!"

"And you five," he pointed at Team RWBY and Oobleck, "We're getting out of here. Now. So get on the train."

Ruby nodded and the group jumped onto the nearest train car as the train began to move. Slowly at first, but the train began to pick up speed. And just as the last grunt was on the train, the zombie horde broke through the makeshift barricade that blocked off the station and hundreds of them flooded onto the platforms.

"Light 'em up!" Alec ordered. Everyone began raining hell on the oncoming zombies, dust rounds flying left and right, tongues of fire from Oobleck's canteen lit up all those who were to close.

"Terra! Hit the fucking switch and let's blow this joint!" Alec barked(?), continuing to turn the zombies into swiss cheese (Or whatever Remnant's equivalent would be). Almost immediately, a massive explosion rocked the station as the entrance partially caved inward, obliterating a massive number of zombies in the original explosion and many more in the falling rubble.

But that didn't stop them, not even a bit. The Zombies kept coming and kept falling by the bullets. In fact, the explosion only seemed to increase their collective thirst for blood, as more and more piled on top of each other to reach the train, even at it's increasing speed. Those that actually managed to latch on to the train were quickly shot off, but it was only a matter of time before the bullets ran out and the train had to stop.

"They seem to be weak to fire dust!" Oobleck called out, "Ms. Schnee if you wouldn't mind?"

Weiss nodded in response, launching a blast of fire out at the horde of irradiated corpses, setting dozens on fire directly because of the fire and more because of the other flaming zombies.

"Well shit, we're gonna be making it to Vale with a horde on our asses," Alec commented, turning to Weiss as the train sped up enough to keep the zombies off them, "So, Schnee, am I really that bad a person just cause I'm in the Fang?"

"I guess not," she replied, Blake, giving her a small smile of appreciation. Seems that she could change after all.

* * *

 _Vale, around the same time…_

Despite not being "on duty" per se, Gabriel and Angela were still out and about the city of Vale, doing what they do, that being having a nice breakfast at a relatively nice cafe. Of course, that being said, it wasn't as if they were unprepared for anything that might interrupt their day, Gabriel having Katana and Arashi strapped to his back and Angela with Darklance on her back and Darkclaw at her waist. They had learned, over twenty years of fighting aliens, to always expect the unexpected and to always carry at least one weapon on you at all times. The hard way.

"Enjoying your croissant, Angie?" Gabriel smiled from across the small table, a small smile returning from her.

"Yup," she took another bite, "Though if I'm being honest, I like the _Cobs_ ones better if I'm being honest. Or the ones Anne makes."

"Anne does make good croissants, yeah," Gabriel replied, "When she makes them, that its. It's been almost half a year since she did."

"Think we could ask her to make some more?"

"I could see if I could get the recipe," Gabriel laughed, "Problem is that I don't think that I'll be able to replicate the fluffiness that she can get in 'em."

Angela shrugged and smirked, taking another bite out of the croissant, drinking a bit of her hot chocolate, "So you don't think you could make a fluffy croissant?"

"That and I'm not French. I don't have the french-ness to make a croissant," Gabriel replied.

Angela laughed, "But we're Canadian. We're half French."

"So a half-fluffy croissant," Gabriel said.

"A croissant with a Fluffiness-disfunction."

They laughed together and stayed there for another few minutes before Gabriel got a call. A call from Oobleck.

"Sup Oobleck. What's up? What's happening?"

" _We… have… prob… bie... "_

"Bart, you're cutting out, what happening?"

" _Zom… horde… chasing us!"_

"Huh?"

Finally, Bart's voice came through clearly, " _Station Twelve! We'll be at Station Twelve in ten minutes! Zombies are chasing us!"_

With that, Oobleck's call cut out, leaving the two people in a state of confusion. With that, the two got into a full sprint, leaving lien on the table as payment. While running, Gabriel quickly dialed Darren (who was on patrol around the city with Anne at the time), "Darren, we got a problem."

" _And what would the problem be, Gabe? Croissants that aren't as good as my wife's?"_

"First off, screw you. And second, how close are you to a place known as Station Twelve?"

" _From where the map says we are, I'd say five minutes away. Why'd you ask?"_

"Just got a call from Barty Oobleck. Says he's being chased by zombies and that's where he'll end up. Angela and I are already heading there. I think we'll make it in seven," Gabriel said, "Tell the cops to make a three block perimeter, evac any civilians in that area, get them to set up blockades at key intersections. I'll contact Ozpin to send any huntsmen and huntresses he can to help."

" _Wait, Zombies?"_ Darren questioned, " _Grimm zombies?"_

"Dunno, but yeah, probably," Gabriel replied, "Just get everyone clear of the area."

" _Roger that Colonel,"_ and with that Darren cut his line as Gabriel and Angela round another corner, his fingers already dialing up Ozpin's number.

"Come on… come on… pick up…"

" _This is Beacon Academy. Unfortunately, no one can take your call right now, so please leave a message and your number and we will respond to your call whenever we get the chance. Have a nice day."_

Gabriel growled, "Guess he's occupied right now. Probably getting calls from all over the city right now."

"We on our own?"

"Seems like it, yup. Just you, me, Anne, Darren, RWBY and Oobleck to hold off a zombie horde with some police officers," Gabriel snarkily commented, "Fucking whoop."

"Not like we haven't been on our own before if we're being honest," Angela rebutted.

A few minutes later and the two found themselves at Station Twelve. The police were already there, coordinating with Darren and Anne, who were also there, setting up defensive positions behinds cars, walls, in shops, etc.

"Gabe!" Darren called out, "Did Bart say when he'd be hitting the station? Or how big the horde is?"

"Didn't say how big the horde is, but he did say around ten minutes from when we last spoke, so I'd give us two more minutes for more prep," he replied as Anne cursed under her breath.

"Two more minutes isn't enough time to prep a zombie horde invasion," she commented, "Especially not with the people we have available. Only about one-hundred cops are actually here right now."

"Do we have blockades set up?"

Anne nodded, "We've got all access points blocked off, yup. Either by the cars or cinder block barricades, we're dug in deep. We should be able to hold at least for a little while."

"But we don't have enough people to fully hold for any extended period of time," Darren continued, "Anne's Gremlin ran the numbers and based on the heat signatures it's detected, it's anywhere from a few hundred up to a few thousand."

"A FEW THOUSAND?!" Angela yelled, completely in shock, "How in god's name do you think we can hold off a few thousand zombies with nothing but one hundred police officers?!"

"Don't forget they have LMG's as well," Darren rebutted, "Apparently they keep heavy guns back just in case. Did you guys get in contact with Ozzy?"

"Nah, didn't pick up when I called," Gabriel sighed, "I think he's a bit busy for stuff like this right now. Which means we aren't getting any help from ol' Ironwood until after shit hits the fan."

"Just perfect…"

"CONTACT!"

The four turned to see people emerging from the station entrance. Oobleck and Team RWBY (yes, with Zwei) had made it back safely, some scratches here and there to indicate fighting of some kind had taken place. Following them were what looked to be a large collection of White Fang members, some facing the station with weapons ready, others simply walking with the four members of team RWBY and Oobleck.

"The Fang?" Gabriel questioned, "What are they doing here?"

Anne shrugged, "Dunno, but maybe Blake talked to them. Being an important member of the Fang herself would probably help with negotiations. Even if she did leave."

The four members of Alpha squad moved forward to the collection of White Fang members and the people from Beacon, with their weapons at the ready, only for Ruby to cry out, "WAIT! DON'T SHOOT! WE'RE FRIENDLY!"

"Lower weapons!" Gabriel commanded, the police officers lowering/holstering their guns, "Oobleck, how long till the horde gets here?"

"They were a minute behind us at best."

"So a minute," Gabriel muttered, turning to the White Fang members, "You know how to fight?"

The obvious leader nodded, "Damn straight, we do. We're ready and will."

"Good," Angela replied, "Get your people to man the barricades with the cops. Ammunition and medical supplies will be passed out to the wounded."

"That's fine," the leader replied, "Could I get a name?"

"Colonel Gabriel Owen," Gabriel stated, "My second, Major Angela Aurora, and the other members of Alpha Squad, Captain Darren Yip and Captain Anne-Marie Rayne. Your's?"

"Lieutenant Alec Steele. And this is my second, Terra Morne," Alec replied, gesturing to the monkey Faunus woman beside him, "Alright! All Fang! Man the barricades and protect this city! We aren't letting any of these bastards through!"

"SIR YES SIR!" the Fang replied as they all retreated to the police barricades, prepared to fight as one to defend the city. Alpha, Team RWBY and Oobleck also retreated to one of the barricades, the middle one which faced right down the station's maw, right where the horde would come from.

And come they did.

"The Lost?" Darren mused, "Fuck are they doing here?"

"Doesn't matter, Darren! Light 'em up!"

Quickly, every single person with a gun began to rain down bullets into the oncoming zombie swarm, with the members of Alpha being the most effective in the defense. Darren, using Ragnarok, mowed down the majority of the largest pockets of the horde, Angela took shots at any of the brutes that had joined the group, while Anne lit up some of the faster-moving dashers. All the while Gabriel unloaded Arashi into the larger troops of the lost, similarly to Angela, but at closer range.

Seeing the left barricade getting overrun, Gabriel condessed a ball of psionic energy in the palm of his right hand and shot it out at the mob of lost. Golden lightning arced from his fingertips as he fried around fifty of the swarm in that area. With the immediate threat gone, the defenders rallied again, pushing the zombies back ever so slightly.

But, the good fortune of the defenders wouldn't last, as the right suffered a similar fate, only they did actually get overrun, losing two police officers and a Fang member in the process. With this revelation, Anne shot forward a void rift, engulfing several dozens of the Lost in a hurricane of psionic energy tendrils, which tore them to shreds. Seconds later, the vortex exploded, singeing several more with a sort of psionic flame.

Again, the mob of Lost kept coming, and bullets continued to fly. At this point, they were climbing over each other's bodies just to get into the line of sight of the defenders. But regardless of the forces that fell to the bullets of the defenders, more and more still came.

"How many more of these shits do you think there still are?!" Darren shouted as he mowed down another clump of Lost.

"I couldn't tell you!" Oobleck replied, "We didn't get a chance to count!"

"That was rhetorical!" Darren retorted, "Just keep shooting!"

It was at this point that Gabriel noticed that Ruby had unfolded Crescent Rose, dashing into the crowd of zombies and slashing at them with the plasma blades ignited. However, she was quickly overwhelmed and forced to go on the defensive, swinging her scythe in an arc.

"HELP!" she screamed.

Cursing, Gabriel drew Katana and dashed after her, cleaving bloody swaths through the zombie swarm to reach her. He leapt over one brute, ducking under a dasher who tried to sideswipe him, and bisecting another Lost that came straight at him.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" he bellowed, leaping high up above the lost pack that was swarming Ruby. He landed with a thunderous crash, sending Lost careening into walls and other Lost, psionic lightning striking and incinerating a large portion of those caught in the blast. Then, Gabriel quickly moved to scoop up Ruby in his arms, and began to dash back towards the defencive line, barreling through any of the Lost foolish enough to get in his way.

"Ruby, why oh why did you do that? Do you have any idea how dangerous these things are?!" Gabriel demanded as he body checked another Lost off of him.

"Very dangerous…?" she meekly stuttered.

"Exactly."

Gabriel leapt over the barricade, dropping Ruby on her feet, spinning on his heel and lashing out with a null lance towards the horde, impaling several more and melting those not directly speared with the psionic laser. He then pulled Arashi off his back and began to once again unload into the hoard.

And finally, after what seemed like an hour of fighting to hold off the invaders (however it was only around seven minutes in reality), the cavalry came. Airships full of Atlesian Knights came from the direction of Beacon, while bullheads full of students as well as hunters dropping off behind the barricades. Slowly but surely, the defending force crawled forward, psionic bolts dropping Lost left and right, rockets, bullets and blades cutting bloody swaths in the hoard of invaders.

* * *

By the combined effort of the White Fang deserters, the Atlesian military, the police, the Huntresses and Huntsmen, and the four members of Xcom, they managed to push the Lost back into the train station. And just a little later, the Lost slowly stopped coming through, the final few still coming to Vale trickling in one at a time. Quickly, controlled explosives were set up with the combined effort of all those present, caving in the first half kilometer of train track and sealing it with tonnes of debris and soon, concrete was placed down, practically making an impenetrable barrier between Mt. Glenn and Vale's city center.

Of course, the cleanup took a while, what with the thousand's of bodies of Lost littering the streets and the station. The bodies of the fallen Lost were thrown onto massive bonfires, disintegrating them. As for those who fell in the fight, they were given proper burials in Vale's cemetery the next day. The deceased included three members of the White fang and four police officers, with the total dead at around seven. Despite the relatively low death toll for the defenders, the seven that did die could have been prevented, if the reinforcements had arrived slightly sooner. But the past cannot be changed, and those seven stayed dead.

Atlas had soon reinforced the city with more troops, in an attempt to ensure the people of the city that they were safe all the while trying to cover up the massive gun fight that occurred the day or so prior by playing it off as some wandering hoard of Grimm which was dealt with quickly and easily by peacekeepers and the hunters of Vale.

And with that, Vale began to once again kick into high gear, ready for the Vytal festival right around the corner. But no one, save for a few individuals of the highest order, knew about the impending darkness that was coming. And no one knew that it was already to late.

* * *

 _The Avenger, Medical facility, same time…_

"So Tygan," The Commander asked, "How's Tisha's leg?"

"Better that we expected, Commander," Tygan responded, "Firstly, making these prosthetics has become quite a bit easier now that our troops have started to, albeit reluctantly, accept the practice of Gene therapy, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten nearly as far along."

"Doesn't mean anyone actually approves of it after what the fucking Elders did," she muttered under her breath, before returning her attention to Tygan, "Is she walking again?"

"Yes, or at least she will be in a few days," Tygan confirmed, "I found that the Alien alloy, what I have now begun to call Eronium, can effectively be programed to work with specific genetic patterns, returning a person to top physical condition as if they never even lost the limb in the first place. It is quite interesting and with your permission, I believe that the lab would like to continue down this field of study."

"Permission granted, Tygan," The Commander nodded, "Anything else you'd like to report?"

"Well, other than the results of the tests with Eronium, the specimens you brought back from Beijing seem to be quite interesting. Upon subject termination, they body seems to rapidly decay, as if there is a sort of failsafe in place so that no one can study the corpse," Tygan explained, referencing the corpse of a black beast that was killed in Beijing just a few hours earlier, "However, if the creature is filled with enough psionic energy, it appears that fully ceases to decay."

"Wait, you've gotten to do an autopsy on one of those things?!"

"Yes, and they are just as interesting," Tygan continued as the two walked down one of the hall's to the command deck, "I can't seem to find any organs in them, at all. They appear to be simply just a creature who can survive off of nothing. I speculated an advanced form of photosynthesis, but that gave lackluster results. Over the entire time, while dissecting it, I couldn't find any markers of any species we know of. And on top of that, I couldn't find any DNA."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying, Tygan?"

"Yes I am, Commander," He sighed, "This… creature is a literal anomaly of life. It shouldn't exist, and shouldn't even be possible. But here it is. It baffles me as to how this… thing was actually created. On top of the impossibilities that I just mentioned, it has no sexual organs to speak of. So reproduction is near impossible unless these creatures reproduce like a bacteria and split themselves in half to create two new children."

"Anything else you learned from the creature?" The Commander questioned, hoping that Tygan learned even slightly more about the Grimm, as no one back home ever did learn anything about them other than 'BIG MONSTER BAD!'

"Right now, no," Tygan shook his head, "However, the bone masks and armor they possess are quite dense. Nothing our own weapons can't handle, but regardless, they could prove difficult with more of the armor."

"That's good to know. How is the research into the Rift coming?"

"As good as one can expect when we're dealing with wormholes, Commander. I've recently developed a small scale testing version, however, it can only send an apple a few feet and requires a large amount of elerium to power. However, give it a few more months and we'll be able to get anywhere."

"With enough power?"

Tygan smirked, "Of course. With enough power."

The two finished chatting and reached the command deck, where Bradford was looking at one of the screens in quite the amount of distress.

"Why'd it have to be her…" he muttered to himself, "I thought she was dead. Hell, we haven't seen each other for twenty years…"

"Bradley? What's wrong?" The Commander asked as she walked towards her friend.

Bradford sighed, "You know that feeling when you see a person you thought died a long time ago?"

"Noooo…" She replied, scratching the back of her head, " _Though I do know some people who will when I get home…"_

"Well that's exactly what I'm feeling right now, Commander," Bradford replied solemnly.

"So who is it?"

Bradford walked over to the central terminal slowly and flicked it on, "I think it's best if you see for yourself, Commander."

The holographic screen came online, revealing a smiling blue-eyed woman with blond hair that stretched down to her shoulders. She appeared to be wearing a tattered lab coat, with some stains of blood and mucus on it.

"Hello, Bradford," the woman spoke, with a hint of a German accent, "It's been a while."

* * *

 _ **Alrighty, this chapter is done. Lemme know what you think with a review.**_

 _ **Before we go, see if you can guess the Commander's real name. PM me if you got it (It shouldn't be that hard)**_

 _ **That's all from me. See you in the next one.**_

 _ **Narsauce signing out.**_


	7. A small break

_**Well hello there, welcome back. You might have noticed some changes. Namely, the rating of this fic has dropped from Mature to Teen. Originally, I was going to make this thing a LOT, LOT more violent than it turned out being, so I said fuck it and dropped the rating. May go back up if I go into questionably violent and or sexual territory, but for now, it is staying Teen. Also, sorry about the slightly shorter chapter.**_

 _ **Onto the Reviews:**_

 _ **Guest reviewer designated "Yourmom": Yes, yes they were special like that. Also, 420/69 is a better rating. If that's what you're going for.**_

 _ **SmoothedBeast36: Well thank you too, good man. I hope you're enjoying reading as much as I am writing.**_

 _ **Disclaimers: RWBY is RT and Xcom is Firaxis and now we are good to go.**_

* * *

 _The Avenger, Command Room…_

 _"Hello, Bradford," the woman spoke, with a hint of a German accent, "It's been a while."_

The Commander, Bradford, Dr. Tygan and the entire population of the command deck went silent with shock as they stared at the aged face of the woman on the screen. She smiled, chuckling to herself a slight bit.

"Was I really gone that long?" She sarcastically asked, "Does no one remember me?"

"Well yeah, sort of," Bradford shrugged, still slightly in shock, "Everyone thought you were dead. Until those… " _experiments"_ of yours got loose and started to terrorize everyone. Even then we weren't sure."

"Experiments?" the woman questioned, "Oh! You mean the Viper King and the other modified aliens, right?"

Bradford sighed, "Yup, that's exactly what I mean, Vahlen."

"Wait! You made those things!" The Commander exclaimed in disbelief, "One of those things almost killed me half a decade ago!"

"Well… my condolences, Ms…" Vahlen began, "Ummm… I do not believe any of us have met yet. Would you mind telling me your name?"

"I'm the current Commander of XCom, so just call me Commander," the brunette replied, and gestured to Tygan standing beside her, "As for my bald friend here, this is Dr. Richard Tygan, our head scientist."

"Hello, Dr. Vahlen," Tygan greeted, "It's an honour to meet my predecessor. Your work is quite interesting to read."

"That's a pleasure to hear, Dr. Tygan," she replied, "I'd love to read your own papers as well."

"As much as I would love for both of you science nerds to talk all day about your research, and believe me, I would," the Commander interjected, "Why are you here, Ms. Vahlen?"

"Well, first and foremost, I would like to help you," she replied, "I heard about what happened to Alpha."

"That was a month ago and you're just coming by now?!" the Commander shouted, "Half the reason they're gone is that we sent them to get you!"

"I know that, Commander," Valhen sighed, "Believe me when I say I do. Which is why I'm back."

"Moira, do you really expect me to believe that's the only reason you came back?"

"Well, when you put it like that…" Valhen scratched the back of her head, "Maybe I just wanted to see you again! Is that not ok for me to do?"

Everyone stopped and stared at Valhen's outburst, looking between her holographic face and Bradford, the latter looking stunned and quite red. The Commander looked confusedly between the two people before saying quite bluntly, "Would you guys like some time alone, maybe?"

"Commander, I..." Bradford began, "You know what? Sure. That would be great. Moira, where are you?"

"At the door of the Avenger, Bradford," Valhen replied, to which Bradford ran off to confirm, "By the way, Commander, thank you for letting me see him again."

"How long have you two been separated?"

"Long enough," Valhen stated, the feed cutting off and everyone stared blankly at the center of the room.

"That… was strange…" she muttered, "Didn't know Bradley was actually romantically involved with anyone."

"I didn't either," Tygan replied, "Then again, he never actually had a chance to be romantically involved with her for the better part of twenty years."

"Fair," she agreed, "But he didn't actually do anything to find her. What's that about?"

"He did say he thought she was dead," Tygan commented.

"Yeah, but that isn't a reason to stop looking!" She countered, "Hell! That's just a reason to look harder!"

"I doubt he didn't try, Commander. But there is a point when you sort of give up," Tygan sighed, "Bradford also probably was focusing on saving Earth from aliens, so finding Dr. Vahlen probably wasn't high on his to-do list, per se."

"But… But…" the Commander stuttered, only to relent, "Fine. Still doesn't mean I don't think he should have at least called her to see if she was ok."

Tygan chuckled and the two left the command deck. They walked through the halls towards the bar, while talking about science things, such as how the Rift tech was going, how close they were to developing suits with true invisibility, whether or not they could replicate the Chosen's weapons or at least integrate them into pre-existing weapons. However, upon reaching the bar, they found Valhen and Bradford sitting and drinking some of the… ' _fine wine'_ that Bradford kept for special occasions.

"Maybe we should just head back to the lab," Tygan suggested, noticing how into each other the two were, "And give them some space."

"Maybe," the Commander replied, and the left the bar.

* * *

 _Patch…_

Ruby sighed as she and Yang sat down for dinner with their father, who had just come home from his mission. He had prepared a wide assortment of food for this meal, seeing as how it was special, as Ruby and Yang got into the Vytal festival. The meal included some of their favourites, ranging from cookies to hams to noodles to literally anything, the meal was massive for three people.

"Hey Rubes, you look down. What's up?"

Ruby turned to look at Yang, "Oh… umm… nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing, kiddo," Taiyang chimed in, "What's up?"

"Just thinking about the Festival, winning it and all," Ruby replied, before murmuring, "And mom."

"And what?"

"Mom."

"Visited her grave, didn't you?" Tai sighed, "You know she's gone, right?"

"I know…" Ruby muttered, picking at her food, "I just wish she could be here to see us in the Festival."

Yang placed a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder, "She'd be proud of us, Rubes. I know it."

Ruby again shrugged, "Still would be better if she was here."

"Ok let's stop being depressed," Tai interjected, "You guys still haven't told me a lot about how Beacon has been going. So how is it? How's your team? Who's your favourite teacher?"

"Oh, Beacon's cool, I guess," Ruby replied, "I mean, it has gotten better over the time we've been there."

Taiyang gestured for her to continue, "Oh! Right! Yang and I are on the same team with Weiss and Blake! Weiss is one of my best friends!"

"Weiss as in Schnee?"

"Yup!" Yang chimed in, "She was a bit mean during the first bit of the semester, but she's warmed up to Ruby over the past little while."

"And Blake?"

"Oh, Blake is cool," Yang said, "She reads a lot and not all that talkative, but she's pretty cool."

"She cute?"

"DAD!" Yang exclaimed, blushing a furious atomic red, "...yes."

"Oh ho," Taiyang chuckled, "My little girl has a crush, doesn't she?"

"Maybe…" Yang muttered, "Maybe not…"

"Alright, can we get back on topic?" Ruby interrupted.

"Fine," Taiyang replied, turning back to Ruby, "So who's your favourite teacher? Any of them got anything on me?"

"Ummmmmm…" Ruby thought, "Well, the newest ones are cool. One of them even helped me upgrade Crescent Rose with these cool plasma blades!"

Taiyang's eyes shot wide open, "Really? That's cool. Who was it?"

"Oh, Professor Yip was the one who helped me with it," Ruby replied, "He's got this cool minigun called Ragnarok that shoots red beams of… energy?"

"Cool," Taiyang commented, "Anything else?"

"Well… He was the one who helped me with upgrading Crescent Rose with the plasma blades," Ruby replied, "Oh wait… I just said that…"

"And he's good at boxing," Yang said, "I should know. I lost three times."

"Seems like my kinda guy," Taiyang said jokingly as he cracked his knuckles, "Anyone else?"

"Well, there is Professor Owen," Ruby continued, "He has this cool sword called Katana…"

"He has a sword called Katana? I thought that was a type of sword, not a sword's name."

"I dunno why the name is Katana," Yang said, "But he is kickass when it comes to fighting. Heck, he even gave me some tips on how to fight."

"Like?"

"He basically said that because I rely on my semblance so much I tend to get carried away with absorbing too much damage," Yang replied, "He told me to absorb things that would take out people with lower Aura counts as long as I can get through it. He also told me I have to use my semblance in short bursts to make it effective. And on top of that, he suggested to not get carried away with my semblance."

"He's smart, I'll say that," Taiyang commented, before taking on an offended look, "Wait for a second, isn't that exactly what I've been telling you for the past few years?"

"Yeah…" Yang smiled, scratching the back of her head, embarrassed again by her father, "I guess I didn't take you as seriously back then."

Taiyang sighed, "And you, Rubes? Whaddya like about this new guy."

"Oh! I think he's awesome," Ruby shot up, "The sword, the shotgun… and the fact that he's saved my life twice… that too."

Taiyang face grew concerned, "Ruby, what did I tell you?! Be careful! You kids are the only things I have left! Just please, don't be idiots and leave me alone."

Ruby and Yang sullenly nodded, knowing their father's… overprotectiveness came from a place of love and somewhat one of fear, as he did lose both his wives and they were the only things keeping him from going completely off the wall.

"Yes dad, I'm sorry… I just want to be the best huntress I can be," Ruby muttered, "And I can't… we can't do that by just sitting around and waiting."

"I know, Ruby," Taiyang continued, "But please try and be careful. I don't need either of you two getting hurt."

"We know dad," Yang said, "We'll try to be more careful."

"Good. Now, you said there were other new professors. Tell me about 'em."

"Well, there's Professor Aurora," Ruby explained, "She had this really cool sniper rifle, but she doesn't bring it to class all that often. I have seen her train with it, though. I even got to train with her one day when classes were out."

"Did you count score?"

Ruby scratched the back of her head, "Yeah… I lost badly…"

"How badly?"

Ruby thought about it for a second, before responding, "Very, very badly. She killed twenty enemies for every five I got."

"Ah," Taiyang mused, "Hey, at least you got some, right?"

"Yeah… but she was going easy on me…" Ruby replied.

"Well, at least Anne isn't too hard on us," Yang commented, "Heck, for one of our classes with her a few days ago, she even brought us some croissants. And now Ruby's addicted to them, almost as much as mom's cookies."

"YANG! I AM NOT ADDICTED!"

"Says the girl who has asked for more of them almost every single time we've seen her," Yang countered.

"YANG!"

Taiyang laughed, as his daughters continued arguing over Ruby's supposed addiction to one of the new teacher's croissants. It was quite entertaining to watch, actually, seeing the two siblings go at each other with such playful abandon, the elder teasing the younger and the younger biting back. Honestly, it felt like he was back at Beacon, Qrow and Raven arguing over the most trivial of things. Such as the time Qrow teased Raven over her own supposed addiction to strawberry juice. At the time, he and Summer were just watching and laughing at the reckless abandon at which Raven chased her brother around the cafeteria, her sword in hand. It was one of the more memorable moments of Beacon, what with them winning the Vytal Festival in their first year being arguably the most memorable.

"Hey, kids," Taiyang said, snapping a few times, "Are parent-teacher interviews coming up soon?"

"Yeah…" Ruby said from the headlock that Yang had her in, "They're gonna be after the Vytal festival, though."

"Oh, neat," Taiyang muttered, "Gonna have to sign up to see these new guys then."

* * *

 _Alpha squad residence, Beacon..._

Over the past day or so, Beacon had been pleasantly quiet. Almost no one was there, save for the few students who didn't go to visit friends or family. Team JNPR seemed quite happy, as one of the few teams that all stayed behind at Beacon. Cinder and Mercury left for their own family, while Ruby and Yang went back to Patch to see their dad. Weiss seemed content to be going around Vale with Blake, the two talking about books and the like. Team CRDL and CFVY had also temporarily gone home to their own family, to visit.

For Gabriel, it was somewhat relaxing. For the two days (On top of tomorrow) that there had been few students on school grounds, he and the other teachers got to relax… somewhat. Yesterday morning, he, along with the rest of Alpha, had done a sparring drill with team JNPR, which was altogether quite fun for both parties. They had done doubles, with Gabriel helping Jaune with his swordsmanship, Pyrrha and Angela doing marksman practice, Anne and Ren practicing hand to hand, all the while Nora was going crazy with Darren, the two screwing around with Nora's explosives and modifying it with some… homing tech (Thank you Blaster launcher).

Later that same day, the four met with Port, Oobleck, Glynda, Ozpin and Ironwood to discuss the Vytal festival, security concerns, etc. They had been surprised to learn that Ironwood would be taking charge of security of the festival because of the events that transpired during the event now referred to as "The Breach." Alec and the members of the White Fang were also given some immunity from the justice system because of their actions at the Breach (Mainly because of their affiliation with the Fang), giving them time to spend with their friend's and families in Vale.

And what was worse, Ironwood was also adamant about not shutting down the CCTS, despite the entirety of Alpha squad's protest, sighting the need for their Knight-200's, which apparently ran their commands through the CCTS tower. Which was a stupid idea in of itself. For many, many reasons. But there was nothing they could do, despite themselves not being under Ironwood's command, he did state that he wouldn't hesitate to arrest the should they "endanger" the festival's security.

Which, in their minds, basically translated to: Don't undermine my great plan for stroking my already massive ego.

At least the Commander actually heeded the advice. This twat decided to just do whatever peaks his interest.

So now Alpha squad had to sit by while an incompetent leader, with a massive military to back him, takes matters that should have more than one opinion weighing on them into his sole hands. And they couldn't do jack shit about it. Sure, they might be more than willing to tell Ironwood where exactly he could stick it, but the safety of the people of Vale was their primary concern.

Gabriel, at the current moment, was having exceptionally mixed feelings about the whole of the situation. On one hand, he felt that Ironwood was far to restricting, not letting the people who are supposed to protect humanity from the unknown do their job, but on the other, he somewhat understood his motives. He wanted to ensure Vale's safety, despite his… lacklustre methods at doing so.

 **Knock Knock.**

Gabriel sighed and left the kitchen where he was making dinner (Spaghetti). Tonight, he and Angela had planned to watch a movie, because they hadn't gotten a chance to do so in a while.

As he got to the door, he saw Angela already standing there, door wide open, chatting in hushed voices with someone.

"Angela, who's there?"

Angela turned around, revealing Emerald standing with her, wearing casual clothes, her red eyes looking down at the floor.

"Oh, honey," Angela smiled, "I invited Emerald over because I thought she was lonely with the rest of her team gone."

"I'm sorry if I'm intruding, Professor Owen…" Emerald muttered, her feet shuffling nervously.

"Hey, kid," Gabriel said, walking up to the girl and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "It's fine if you come over. I'm not angry if you're lonely. Come on, we were gonna be having some dinner before we watch the movie."

"I can come back later if you need me to…" Emerald said, "I mean… if you didn't make enough…"

Angela laughed, as Gabriel went back to the kitchen, "Believe me, kiddo, both of us make too much food. We like leftovers."

"Is it vegetarian?"

"It's noodles, spaghetti specifically," Angela replied, winking at the younger girl, "We usually have it with meat sauce, but I might have… hinted… that I wanted tomato sauce tonight."

"You did it for me?"

"I dunno, did I?" Angela teased, patting Emerald's head, "Of course I did, kiddo."

Emerald smiled and hugged Angela, "Thanks…"

"Hey, just being considerate," the red-head replied, returning the greenette's hug, "If I'm having guests over, might as well make food for them eat."

The two walked to the table at the dining room, chatting while waiting for Gabriel to bring out the spaghetti. It was five minutes or so before he did, and when he did, the three of them chatted while they ate.

"This…" Emerald exclaimed, "This is amazing. Thanks, professor."

"Don't mention it, kid," Gabriel replied, "Just trying to be a generally good guy."

The three continued to eat for around ten more minutes, before they had all finished their spaghetti, Gabriel clearing the table while Angela and Emerald went to the couch. As the young girl sat down, Angela draped a blanket over the two of them.

"Thanks… again, Professor Aurora…"

"Emerald, please, just call me Angela," the older woman said, sitting down next to her and draping the blanket over herself as well, "So, what do you want to watch, Emerald? We've got tons of movies from home loaded up with Asimov."

"Are you just letting me choose?" Emerald asked, a nod coming from Angela, "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"We've seen them all at least a few times, so it's not that big of a deal," Angela explained, "So… let's see… how does… hmm, this is tough. What're you in to?"

"Well…" Emerald chuckled nervously, "I like to watch animations…"

"Then I know what we're watching!" Angela squealed, "It's a movie called _How to Train Your Dragon_ , and it's amazing. Believe me."

"ARE WE WATCHING _HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON_!?"

Angela sighed, "Yes Gabe. We are watching _How to Train Your Dragon_."

"FUCK YEAH!"

Angela laughed, "He loves these movies. Then again, they are some of the last movies that came out before the shit hit the fan."

 **(An: Yes, I do like the How to Train Your** **Dragon series.)**

The movie began as Gabriel walked into the room, sitting next to his wife, who had Emerald cuddling next to her, like a child to their mother, in some ways. They stayed watching the movie for the hours that it played for, sitting together as a family. As the end of the first movie closed and Darren and Anne came back from a night out eating dinner at a fancy restaurant, Gabriel flicked on the second, because he liked them both and he saw that it was only 9:30, so they could finish the second movie before midnight.

As the second movie came to its end, the two adults were moving to go to shut off the movie when they noticed that Emerald had fallen fast asleep. Gabriel motioned for Angela to go and turn of the television, who did and promptly when to bed, while he went over to Emerald, lay her out on the couch, tucking her in. However, despite how he quietly drifted away from the sleeping girl…

"Professor…"

Gabriel sighed, "Yeah Emerald?"

"I know this might sound a bit weird, but…" she whispered, "Could… could you… give me a good-night kiss?"

Gabriel gave off a confused look but shrugged and walked over to the half-asleep girl, rolling her hair back and giving her a small peck on her forehead.

"Good night, Emerald. Sleep tight," he whispered.

Emerald smiled warmly, giving off the same look like a sweet little girl, not the broken thief that lay before him. He tiptoed to his room, careful not to wake anyone up.

"You're going to be a great father," Angela whispered as Gabriel quietly opened and closed their room's door.

"It's just one kid, Angela," he replied, "It doesn't say anything about how good of a dad I'll be."

"But it does, Gabriel," Angela smiled, "Look at how you treat Emerald. You treat her like she's your daughter."

"I just see a lot of pain in that kid. I want to help her, and I know you do too, Angela."

"So what do you want to do?"

"I don't know…" Gabriel responded, "She deserves a better life than what she got. And honestly…"

"You want to give her a better life, don't you?" Angela finished.

"Yeah… sorta…" he admitted, "Isn't that one of the reasons we fight? To give the next generation a better shot than we ever had?"

Angela nodded, "Yup."

Gabriel lay down on the bed, pulling the sheets up over himself as he and Angela snuggled closer together, slowly drifting off to sleep…

* * *

" _Please don't hurt them..."_

 _A fireball formed out of the darkness, casting a harsh light, driving out the dark… she saw she was in a ruined version of Beacon, Gabriel standing up with a limp, his face bloodied but his grip on Katana was unwavering. When she looked at Cinder, she saw that the False Maiden was in a similar state, her own face bloodied, with one black eye, the fireball in her hand._

 _She saw Ruby, the little red reaper, enter the broken plaza, her red cape fluttering behind her. Cinder looked at her with disdain, raising her arm as she shot off the fireball at the young rose._

" _No…"_

 _In a blaze of speed, Gabriel leapt in front of the fireball, pushing the young reaper out of the way. He was there one second, gone the next, nothing but ash and sand. Ruby cried out to him in a vain attempt to bring him back, as Cinder created a bow and arrow out of thin air._

" _No, no, no!"_

 _She only fired one shot. For that was all she needed._

* * *

" **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**

Gabriel woke to a sharp, shrill scream (he had learned to be a light sleeper over the past twenty years) coming from the living room. He leapt out of the bed in a blur of speed, dashing towards the sound.

As he ran into the living room, he saw Emerald sitting straight as a board, rocking back and forth, huddled in her blanket, crying her eyes out, muttering, "Nonononononononono…"

He moved over to the tearful girl, sitting next to her while wrapping her in his arms, attempting to comfort her. Even when he pulled her close, trying his damnedest to calm her, she still couldn't, or wouldn't, stop crying. They stayed there for a long while, Gabriel sitting with the broken girl, keeping her company, hearing her ramblings, patting her head, letting her cry on his shoulder.

"Shush," he whispered, "It's okay, it's okay, everything is fine, you're fine, you're okay…"

The crying didn't stop, Emerald still clinging to the older man like he was her only hope of staying the least bit sane after what she dreamt. And despite dreaming it, she still had reservations. She wanted to tell him, to help him and the rest of the school kill Cinder, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.

The crying slowed from its torrential downpour, eventually coming to little more than a trickle, as Emerald was practically choking on her sadness, her head still buried deep in Gabriel's shoulder. Her soft, fearful, muffled cries could still be somewhat heard through Gabriel's arm as he held her close to him. He continued to try to placate the terrified girl, to try and draw her out of that horrified state.

And it somewhat worked, she stopped crying after an hour of clinging onto Gabriel as if for dear life itself. She slowly let go of him, though she didn't stray far from him, as if worried that he would dissipate back into the dust.

"Okay Emerald, look at me, please," Gabriel calmly said, picking up her chin so that they looked each other in the eye, "What happened? Why are you so scared?"

Emerald choked back another sob, "I… I… I s… s… saw yo… y… you die… y… you… and R… Ru… by… b… bo… th…"

Gabriel was taken aback, but quickly changed his attitude to the comforting one he had been in for the last little bit, "Hey, hey, it's fine, I'm still here, Ruby's still here. It was just a dream, Emerald. None of that actually happened."

She sniffled, "B… bu… but it wa...was… so real…"

Gabriel sighed, "That's what nightmares are, Emerald. But it wasn't real, I'm still here. It's fine, don't be scared."

"I… I…" Emerald stuttered, incoherently blabbering on and on in nonsensical gibberish, before finally flopping down, defeated and sniffling, but relaxed at the same time. Gabriel, thinking his work was done and she was calm, slowly got up to leave…

However, he found himself constrained when he felt a tugging on his shirt, pulling him back to the couch.

"P… please… please don't go…" he heard Emerald mutter. Sighing again, he sat down on one of the chairs near her. She seemed to calm, knowing that Gabriel was there for her, if anything were to go bump in the night. He waited for around half an hour, the time now being three in the morning until he heard the soft snores coming from the girl.

He smiled inwardly, getting up from the chair quietly, as to not disturb the girl in her rest. Quietly, he tiptoed back to his room, opening and closing the door as softly as he could. As Gabriel made his way back to his bed, he thought to himself about the conversation that he and Angela had earlier that night.

" _It's just one kid, Angela. It doesn't say anything about how good of a dad I'll be."_

" _But it does, Gabriel. Look at how you treat Emerald. You treat her like she's your daughter."_

He shook his head clear of the thoughts, lying down next to Angela.

" _I just see a lot of pain in that kid. I want to help her, and I know you do to, Angela."_

" _You want to give her a better life, don't you?"_

Gabriel sighed again as he snuck a peek at Angela's sleeping face, her mouth somewhat curled into a smile of sorts as if she knew what had just happened outside.

" _You're going to be a great father."_

"Maybe you're right, Angela," Gabriel said as he planted a kiss on his wife's forehead, "Maybe I will make a good dad. And maybe we can find a way to give her a better life."

* * *

 _ **Alrighty, that chapter is over, next one will be going up in a week or two... maybe three, depending on how fast I write.**_

 _ **Please, R & R to tell me what I did good, what I did bad, and what I could do better on.**_

 _ **Have a nice one, my dudes and dudettes and I'll see you next time. Narsauce out.**_


	8. The Beginning

_**Alrighty, welcome back to this shit show, my name is Narsauce and I'm back, bringing you another part to this story that I enjoy writing. As for the wait, I'm sorry, I was in Mexico when this chapter finished and I didn't have a damn computer to actually post this thing on, so it's a bit later than I wanted. Now, onto reviews.**_

 _ **jmccalmont11: For your first review, I have no idea what you mean. I looked through the entire chapter and I couldn't find what you were referencing. For your second review, I will sarcastically say: Why did I not think of that?**_

 _ **Disclaimers: RWBY is RT and Xcom is Firaxis and now you can all feast on a story! Have a good one!**_

 _ **Also, read to the end for a very important authors note containing an explanation and exposition dump as this chapter will be somewhat confusing.**_

 _ **Edited 10/10/2019: Changed a bit of the lore as to keep in line with original idea**_

* * *

 _Vytal Festival fairgrounds…_

The Vytal festival was getting underway, it's first few rounds already done. Emerald's team had passed the first round with flying colours, beating their competition black and blue, with both her and Mercury advancing to the next round of the fight. Team RWBY had just finished their own fight against Team ABRN, winning with a triple knockout made by a team combo of sorts. Of course, Alpha squad had seen all of it watching and cheering on the teams from Beacon. Of course, Gabriel and Angela cheered on Emerald during her fight as well, seeing as how the two had taken a liking to the greenette. After the morning fights, the four had gone their separate ways, Darren and Anne heading to a meeting with Port and Oobleck, seeing as how Anne wanted to see some of the tech that the flying coliseum employed.

Gabriel and Angela had decided to have a walk around the fairgrounds, touring around the booths and such. They walked and laughed, Gabriel, buying the pair some ice cream, chocolate for Angela and mint chocolate chip for himself. As they walked, they saw Emerald smiling and laughing with Team RWBY, being generally friendly towards the four other girls.

"We should go over and congratulate them," Angela said, smiling, "They did amazing in the festival today."

"That they did," Gabriel nodded as they began to walk over to the five girls, "I mean, that triple knockout that Yang managed to pull out of thin air was fucking beautiful."

"And that combo Emerald and Mercury got off was pretty good as well if I'm honest," Angela commented, "But that kid is going feeling that for a few days."

"I'm pretty sure anyone who got hit the way he did would be feeling that for a while. He flew at least ten meters from that kick."

It was around this time that Ruby noticed them walking up. She raised her hand and waved, "Hey professors! How are you? Did you see us? Did ya? Didya?"

"Yes, Ruby. We did," Angela nodded, "And I must say, you all did great."

"Thanks, professor," Yang laughed.

Gabriel smiled, "So who's going on to the second round? You all could if I'm honest."

"Well… Merc and I are moving up to the doubles round," Emerald said, "Dunno about you guys. Actually, I was just gonna ask that. Who is moving up for you?"

"Well, as the leader of this team, I thought long and hard…"

"We put it to a vote."

Ruby nervously scratched her head, "And I decided to put it to a vote."

"Weiss and Yang are moving on," Blake elaborated, barely looking up from her book.

"Well congrats you guys," Gabriel said, "How 'bout this. As a treat, Angela and I will get you some lunch. On us."

"Really?! We were just going to get some!" Ruby exclaimed, "Thanks, professor!"

"Hey, no problem," Angela replied, "You guys all did great today."

As Gabriel, Angela and Team RWBY began to walk off, Gabriel noticed that Emerald was hanging back, nervous.

"You guys go on ahead," he whispered to Angela, "I'm gonna go see what's up with Emerald. She seems… out of it."

"You do that, I'll get us some seats at the nearest place," Angela replied, "Call me if you guys get lost."

"Sure thing," he nodded, sauntering over to Emerald, "Em, you look scared. What's up? Moving on to the doubles round got you spooked?"

"Sorta…" Emerald replied, shuffling her feet a bit.

Gabriel laughed, putting a comforting hand on her, "Hey, don't worry. You'll do fine, Em. You did amazing in the first round. You'll do great this time around too."

Emerald's face changed into a smile, however, it still had a small amount of sadness lingering on it. Gabriel himself smiled as well, "Come on, let's go get you some lunch. You can even bring Mercury over there. I won't object."

Emerald nodded and went over to Mercury. She whispered something into his ear, he nodded and whispered back. Gabriel couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, nor did he really care. Emerald smiled and in a flash, Mercury was gone, leaving her and Gabriel in his wake.

"Mercury not coming?"

Emerald shook her head, "No, he said he has something to do back in the room. Something about practice."

"Practice never hurts," Gabriel remarked as the two walked off, "Despite the fact that I don't really think you actually need it."

"Thanks for the compliment, Gabriel."

Gabriel stopped, turning to Emerald with a smirk as he playfully remarked, "Since when did I say you could call me that?"

Emerald was taken aback, sputtering out denials and apologizing profusely. Gabriel laughed and patted her head, "I'm joking, Em. You can call me Gabriel. Believe me, the only time I want people to be overly formal with me is either when I'm teaching something to a class or you are my subordinate in the military. Of which neither are happening right now."

Emerald nodded, "So I can call you Gabriel, right?"

"Only outside of class," Gabriel confirmed as he pulled out his scroll, "Now, where exactly did you take those kids, Angela…"

" _Gabe, we're at the noodle stand. An old guy owns it. JNPR is also here, we're impossible to miss."_

"Apparently they're impossible to miss," Gabriel remarked as he looked back at Emerald, "And they're at a noodle stand and if I'm not mistaken, it's that way."

"I remember seeing one there, yeah."

"Anything I should tell her to order for us?"

Emerald put her hand to her chin, "Any vegetarian options?"

Gabriel's scroll pinged, " _And yes, there are vegetarian options. I ordered the Regular for Em and the Half-Half for you."_

"She says there are vegetarian options and got you the Regular," Gabriel confirmed as he began to walk off, "I wonder what this Half-Half thing is… sounds good, all things considered."

The two walked off in the direction of the noodle stand, laughing and joking along the way. Gabriel had even asked the thief how much she liked the members of Team RWBY. Emerald tried to be honest, saying that Ruby was slightly (Read: always) to happy. Weiss, to Emerald, was a bit stuck up, but she understood that's just how she was raised. When Gabriel asked if she didn't like Weiss based on her childhood life, and surprisingly Emerald shook her head sadly.

"I don't envy Weiss even a bit, actually," Emerald sighed, "I mean, sure. She had everything in her life practically fall from the sky for her, but from why I've heard, Jacques Schnee is anything but caring for any of his kids."

"Don't you think it would have been better than what you had?"

She shrugged, "From what I've heard, Jacques is a control freak, an asshole who's an all-around racist piece of shit. Sure, a house would be nice, but living with that trash would probably make me like the streets more. Even despite the warm bed in the house."

"So you'd prefer to live on the streets compared to living as Weiss?"

"That's…" Emerald scratched her chin, "I mean… I'd love to have the life Weiss had. But the thing is, if I live in a family, I at least want a good family not plagued with the biggest narcissistic asshole on Remnant."

"Fair point," Gabriel had to agree. From what he's seen, and heard from Weiss herself, about Jacques, the man, the myth, the complete shit lord. From what he read, he was a sociopathic slave trader who decided to use and abuse Faunus just because the laws in Atlas were less strict than basically anywhere else. And because of his monopoly on Dust, he couldn't be targeted for these crimes because the entire market would collapse (Taking an economics course in grade eleven helps, apparently).

"So I think we're on Blake or Yang," Gabriel continued, "Whaddya think about them?"

Emerald stopped, "Well… Blake's quiet… and a book person… I mean, she's nice and all… but she's just a bit… disconnected. Out of it, if you get what I mean."

"Oh, I totally do," Gabriel laughed, "She's a good kid and she means well, but if I'm honest, she reads to much smut."

"SMUT?!"

Gabriel nodded, "I know smut when I see it, Emerald. Back home there was a lot of smut. Probably more than she'll ever have a chance to read."

"And you know this why?"

"Simply put, some idiots made an entire movie based on one of the best sellers, called Fifty Shades of Grey or something like that. This book was an absolute piece of trash in my mind. No story, just kinks."

"That does sound like something Blake would read," Emerald joked, "Anyway, Yang is… funny… I guess. Too many puns, though."

"I can second that, kid," Gabriel commented, "But they say a person who is fluent in the making of puns is good at wordplay."

"And that hair!"

Gabriel nodded, "She does have a lot of hair. Honestly, I think that she should cut it because of how cumbersome it is in a fight, but she does do well enough so it should be fine to keep."

"And the boobs!"

"No comment," Gabriel shuddered, "I need not be arrested for pedophilia, thanks."

"Maybe that's why she has the hair," Emerald snickered, "Balance."

"Emerald, why did you have to…" Gabriel put his hand against his face, "Dear god, that was good, but again, I don't need that image in my head, not now, not ever."

Emerald shrugged as they walked into view of the noodle stand, seeing team RWBY, JNPR, and Angela lounging around the stand, with two empty seats, next to Angela. They sat next to her, as everyone chowed down on their food.

"So, how's your day? Anything cool happen?" Gabriel asked, gesturing towards JNPR.

Ren shook his head, "Nothing yet, but we are scheduled to fight later."

"Right," Angela said, "Isn't that happening soon? Like in the next hour or so?"

"Yes, but we have time," Pyrrha said, "So we decided to come and congratulate everyone on their wins."

"Well that's nice of you," Gabriel replied, "Want anything?"

Just as Nora was about to answer, Jaune piped up, "Ah… no, I think we're good. I think I might puke during the fight if I eat now."

"Awe…" Nora sulked, "But I want lunch…"

"We'll get you guys some food after your fight," Gabriel promised, placating Nora's hyperactive food frenzy.

"OK!"

* * *

 _Amity Colosseum…_

"That stuff is surprisingly high tech," Anne remarked as she and Darren left from Amity's control booth, "How did they make it?"

"Well…" Darren mused, "I have absolutely no idea."

"And they've had it for almost sixty years!?"

"To be fair, we've been to the moon in that time, they haven't."

Anne gave a puzzled look, "Didn't they try and their shuttle blew up?"

"Yeah," Darren shrugged, "Dust doesn't work outside of the atmosphere. It's really funny how they haven't found a different energy source."

"Probably because they didn't need to. They're fighting for survival and Dust is easy to use and come by."

"If it ain't broke don't fix it?"

Anne nodded, "My thoughts exactly."

The two continued to walk to the Bullhead platform, chatting along the way about small things, like what they would name their kid, the matches in the Vytal festival, what they thought of the festival itself, how stupid Ironwood is, was and will forever be (Which has become one of their favourite, if not their favourite activity since they met him). On top of that, they were making plans for what to do once the school year was over, or more once the Vytal festival itself, was over.

You see, they (they being Alpha squadron), had made a deal with Ozpin to commission a set of houses to be built on the island of Patch, one for each of the married couples. And Anne was already planning what was to go inside, where the bedrooms would be, etc, etc. Ozpin had originally asked if they wanted to have their houses in Vale proper, but that offer had been declined.

After living in the middle of nowhere for the better part of two decades, they had gotten used to not living in big cities. In fact, that was one of the main reasons that none of them actually wanted to live on Patch. Simply put, the outdoors was a big thing for them. Being able to move around a bit more than they would if they were in Vale.

And the property taxes weren't sky high. That too is an issue.

The fact that they all wanted a bit of freedom to explore the area around where they lived also compounded the incentive to live on Patch. They already picked out the lots and construction was well underway at this point, so just before the Vytal festival finished, both their houses would be completed. To be fair, the construction had only started a week or so after they got here, and how far along the builders were was quite impressive.

Both the houses were being built as two-story, single-family detached houses, near enough to walk to in five or so minutes. While they weren't the largest houses, they were big enough, at around 2,400 square feet each (give or take). Angela had seemed to do up the house's floor plan the second she got the chance, citing many things, primarily a surprise for a few someones who she neglected to name, for whatever reason.

Apparently, Angela wanted to keep it a secret, even from Gabriel. Why she kept it a secret wasn't completely at odds with her personality, however, it was strange of her to do over something so trivial as the floorplan of a house. But, knowing Angela, her keeping it a surprise usually meant something special for everyone involved.

As Darren and Anne rounded the bend to the bullhead landing platform of the stadium, they saw Gabriel, Angela, Emerald, as well as Teams RWBY and JNPR exiting one of the landing bullheads. Almost as soon as they could, Emerald and team RWBY sprinted off in the direction of the stands, while JNPR ran off to the change rooms.

"Hey!" Darren shouted, waving at the remaining two of the group, "Where are you guys going?! Thought you were out at lunch!"

"We were," Angela called back, hoisting up a bag, "We got you some."

"Whatcha get for us?"

Angela rifled through the bag and pulled out a relatively large soup bowl with a lid, "Well… Anne, I got you a Regular with bacon… and Darren…"

She pulled out another large bowl and Gabriel commented, "Half 'n half for you, bud. I loved that thing, so we assumed you would to."

"Oh really now?" Darren smirked, "What's in it?"

"Some fish, some beef and noodles," Gabriel mimicked a stereotypical Italian chef, "Most beautiful collection of proteins one could ever collect and put in a bowl."

"Sounds delicious," Anne muttered as she took her own bowl from Angela, "So… why'd the kids rush off?"

"JNPR's match is in twenty. They wanted good seats," Angela replied as the four sat down at one of the benches nearby.

"Are we going to watch?"

"Probably," Gabriel remarked, "Unless something horrible were to happen in the next few minutes."

Anne slurped up some noodles, "How horrible are we talking?"

"Ozpin calling us," Angela shrugged, "Vale being invaded, that sort of stuff. Y'know, just a regular old Tuesday."

"Fair enough," Darren smiled, chomping on a slice of beef, "Speaking of a regular and old, what're we gonna do once the houses are finished?"

"I'd say move we in," Gabriel said, "And you still haven't told me what you're doing with the house yet, Angela."

Angela smirked, "Cause I wanna keep it a secret."

"What could possibly be so important about the house that you need to keep it a secret?!"

Angela smiled innocently, "Something…"

"SOMETHING WHAT!?"

"Guess you'll just have to find out, honey," Angela kissed Gabriel on the cheek.

* * *

 **Tygan's journal: Entry 213**

 _Work is well underway on the Rift. As of now, it has been confirmed that we have been accurately been able to predict the location of an object in a Rift field projection with 99.999% accuracy. Tests for cross-world transit are almost underway._

 _I must say, Dr. Vahlen has been most helpful in this endeavour. As it turns out, she had many things on her mind during the twenty or so years she was out of commission. I was quite fascinated by her discoveries regarding AI. Not that they were uncommon during the Advent regime, however, those AI had little to no personality to them. On top of that, they were purely weapons of war._

 _In regards to the topic at hand, I've discovered that these Rifts enable FTL travel of a sort, as our tests showed the transport of matter through the Rifts is instantaneous and the object hasn't aged even slightly. Of the tested objects this far, apples and small rodents have been our test subjects. Of the tested rodents, in numbers that are upwards of 1000 thus far, only a few have suffered from any noticeable side effects._

 _The first of the few were reported with hair loss to an extreme extent, however, both myself and Vahlen believe this to be a one-time occurrence. This is possibly due to the extremely high amount of psionic radiation emitted by the Rift. It is also important to note that this was our first test involving the rodents test subjects, and as such, the Rift system was in an earlier developmental stage. As we have progressed, psionic radiation has been reduced down to acceptable levels and because of that, it was deemed safe enough._

 _However, one common trait that seemed to occur because of the radiation. Each of the few rats that did suffer any of the side effects also seemed to experience an overall increase in brain activity as well as slightly above average increase in muscle mass. This also came with a corresponding increase in intelligence. The rodents that displayed these symptoms seemed to form gangs with those that weren't affected and became a leader of sorts._

 _While the effects of the psionic radiation is quite interesting for sure, the main focus of the past few days has still been on the Rift. As of now, our prototype "Warp Rift Generator," as it has been dubbed, works at optimal efficiency and as of now only requires two Elerium generators to achieve full power. Vahlen recently calculated a potential requirement for jumping across our star system, a Light year, 10 Light years, as well as around 100 Light years from Earth. The numbers she calculated out weren't all that far off my initial prediction in the range of a full 24 Elerium generators to make a jump of around 100 Light years._

 _On that note, the search for Alpha squadron has still been going on quite vigorously. Some of the Templar have agreed to have themselves hooked up to the Shadow Chamber to help them amplify their psionics in a hope to locate Alpha. So far no success has been had, however possibly having the Commander hooked up might increase our success, as Geist pointed out, she does have a more interpersonal connection, which might allow her to locate them easier. However, collectively, we decided that to be the last resort._

 _Other than that, this has been a productive week. Our tests with the Rift will continue, and the Commander us volunteered as our first human trial. I only hope we can use these advances for the betterment of all._

 _Dr. Tygan._

* * *

 _Chicago Warp Rift Testing Facility…_

"Power it up, let's see where we're at."

The Elerium power generators flared as energy spiked, sending ludicrous amounts of energy spilling into the latest prototype model of the Warp Rift Generator. The Generator shot out a purple psionic beam, forming a tear in space-time, coloured similarly to the beam that was used in its creation.

The Commander breathed a sigh of relief as the rift began to change into a circle around the size of a double door, as it was supposed to be, "Tygan, Vahlen, Shen, how are we looking?"

"Generators are keeping up with the Rift's demands," Shen said as she flicked through some screens, "Temperature levels are maintaining. We're in the green."

"The Rift is stable as well, Commander," Vahlen continued from a console, "We have confirmation at the testing sight in Toronto, they are getting the Rift's readings as well."

Tygan nodded, "Then I guess we are ready to proceed with live trials, Commander. Are you ready?"

She returned the nod, "Definitely. Let's do this."

Tygan swiped on his datapad, "Clear AOA (Area Of Arrival). Checking one."

" _AOA clear, ready to receive Commander."_

The thumbs up came and The Commander took off in a sprint, running right towards the purple anomaly that was floating in the air. She leapt at the Rift, feeling a strange sensation come over her body.

If she had to describe it, the sensation felt like an ocean current, but more directed, more focused but just as violent. Actually, it felt like she was on a water slide, directed by a torrent of controlled psionic waves that washed over her. Space warped around her, falling away and being created by the whim of whatever dimension that she was in.

And then it was over.

She fell out of the Rift, rolling out of the fall and standing up on her feet. Around her, a dozen or so XCom scientists were scribbling notes, doing calculations, recording the events that had transpired. Her knees weakened as her eyes adjusted to the light. She stood up, her mind was still somewhat disjointed from the trip through the Rift. The psionic energy was almost intoxicating at the amounts it was found in during the trip. She'd have to get Tygan and Vahlen to look over it later.

She quickly picked the datapad from her waist, "Tygan, how were the test results?"

" _Amazing, as always, Commander,"_ Tygan said, " _If I may ask, how was the trip? Any strange feelings?"_

"Like a psionic waterslide, if I'm completely honest," she replied as one of the scientists came up to her with a datapad, scanning her for radiation, "It felt weird, but not a bad weird."

" _How did you feel immediately post exiting the Rift?"_ Vahlen's voice came through.

"A bit disoriented," she admitted, "But all things considered, not all that bad. I mean, my knees felt a bit weak, but that's passed now."

" _I expected the weak knees. Especially when you are traversing between two different dimensions."_

Tygan chose this moment to speak, " _Commander, a skyranger is ready to pick you up and bring you back to the Chicago testing facility. I would like to run some tests on you once you return, just to confirm some theories, if I may."_

The Commander began to walk towards the landing pad, "Sure, I've got no problem with that," she replied.

She walked onto the landing deck, looking at the skyranger that had landed there. She went up the ramp and sat down in the closest seat to the cockpit. She pulled up a tab on her datapad and took a look at the rebuilding progress of various cities. London was at fourteen percent, Shanghai was twenty-two, Munich and Paris were at forty-six, Washington and New York were both almost finished while Toronto, Chicago, Berlin, Moscow and Sydney were all finished completely.

Her mind began to drift slowly, as she unconsciously clipped her datapad back to her waist. Her eyes became heavy, her breathing calmed, her body went limp in the chair as she drifted slowly off into a calm sleep.

* * *

 _Her eyes shot open and she began to look around her. She noted that she was still in the skyranger but at the same time… not… in a way. The skyranger was the same, the pilot was the same, she was still sleeping on the seat._

 _Wait. She was still sleeping on the seat… and she was standing up… at the same time._

" _Is this a dream?" She muttered, turning and noticing that she was actually floating._

 _She entered the cockpit of the skyranger and looked outside at the sky. She noticed that everything was moving in slow motion, the panels on the skyranger, the clouds themselves, everything about the world was slowed to a stop._

" _ **Beautiful, is it not?"**_ _A voice from behind her spoke,_ " _ **Truly splendid."**_

 _She turned, looking for the source of the voice, and what she found standing there shook her to her very core._

" _An Elder?" She stammered, "But… But we killed you all. How are you still here?!"_

 _The Elder seemed to laugh,_ " _ **You did. You destroyed us so utterly. And for that, we are thankful."**_

" _Wait, what…"_

" _ **For eternities, we have searched the universe for those capable of wielding the Gift. We used our knowledge of the genetic workings of the Gift to attempt to create a species capable and worthy of succeeding where we did not. And it worked."**_

 _At a loss for words, The Commander opened her mouth, "Again, What?"_

" _ **Over the eons and eons of our lifespan, we have purged life from the galaxy and seeded it back into existence. Both the people of your home and those of this world exist because of this fact,"**_ _the Elder explained, it's four hands extending out,_ " _ **And both are our greatest successes. You won. Unlike every other race with the gift that we fought, you beat us. Despite your loss in the first invasion, you all continued to fight. And of that, we are proud."**_

" _Of course we would fight hard, you slaughtered us in droves," The Commander retorted._

" _ **But not all did,"**_ _the Elder countered,_ " _ **Many willingly laid down their arms in submission."**_

" _I doubt any human on Earth would willing give into your regime without a gun pointed at their head every day of their life."_

" _ **You still have a fire in your heart. I am impressed,"**_ _the Elder commented,_ " _ **Good. You will need it. The universe is a dangerous place, one that you will soon venture into. However, as of now, focus not on the sky and what lies beyond, but on the ground of your home. Take it back from your enemies."**_

" _We aren't focusing on the sky, whatever that means," She replied, "We're looking for our friends."_

" _ **Ah, our gambit, our greatest risk,"**_ _the Elder said,_ " _ **The Healer, The Defender, The Sharp-eyed, The Orphan. Our greatest success."**_

" _The Orphan?" The Commander quizzically muttered, "Are you talking about Gabriel? He had a family here. He couldn't be an orphan."_

" _ **Yet it is the truth, young Commander. The Ranger's family perished, and he was thus orphaned."**_

" _But all of their families died," she countered, "Why's he so different?"_

" _ **Because his life is defined by that fact,"**_ _the Elder explained,_ " _ **He never knew his birth family, a fact that I am truly ashamed to admit was our own fault, for it was us that separated them. The family that took him in perished at our hands. You ask what makes Gabriel Owen so different, young Commander? Because we, unlike the rest, engineered his life to a point. While we did influence the decisions of the other's families, we had a much more… hands on… impact with him. We took him from his home as but a small child and gave him to a family that wasn't his own. And then we broke him. We broke all of them."**_

 _The Commander shook in furious silence. Her eyes glowed with psionic rage as silver psionic flames licked her body. Her fists were clenched at her sides, unable to comprehend what these… monsters had done. All she could do was ask…_

" _Why?"_

" _ **Because he was to be a catalyst for human evolution. Like you, like the ones called Angela, like Darren, like Anne,"**_ _it responded,_ " _ **This War was to prove humanities worth, both the ones on this world and the ones of Remnant, as your people call it. It was to prove that humanity was capable of becoming something more, something greater than us. Everything that happened, happened because we willed it to. You are alive because of us. During your years with them, you didn't evade our detection, we always knew where you were, and we set up tests to ensure you were worthy."**_

" _So all this… ALL THIS MURDER WAS JUST SOME SICK FUCKING TEST TO YOU?!" The Commander screamed. She was furious, being told that all this war, this destruction, this bloodshed, everything that happened in the past twenty years was just a test. Just a fucking test, "WHAT ARE WE TO YOU? LAB RATS? IS THAT IT?"_

" _ **In a way, yes. Humanity needed to be united,"**_ _The Elder glared,_ " _ **Look at your past. On your home, two massive wars took your world by storm, burned through countless lives. But you were reminded of your true enemies. So you turned your weapons on those that would seek your destruction, not your own kind. Here, even more, blood has been shed at the altar of war, claiming even more lives and with no common enemy, we did what we had to. So we gave you a common enemy, and you fought together as one against us."**_

" _You're a monster…" the Commander sobbed, "You murdered millions… to test our will… as a people."_

" _ **And you succeed. And because of that success, I will give you some advice."**_

" _What?"_

" _ **You want to find your brother, no?"**_

 _The Commander was stunned. She looked directly into the eyes of the Elder, boring deep into its soul, "And what do you know about my brother?"_

" _ **Oh, many things. That you've been looking to hard for him. You looked up to the sky in hopes of finding a treasure that doesn't exist when upon the chest you stood. You failed to recognize when the thing you were looking for was right in front of you."**_

" _So you're saying I lost him again?"_

" _ **No, not at all, young Commander. Not even a bit."**_

" _Then do you know where he is?"_

" _ **Home. Your brother has finally returned home. And you have fulfilled your promise."**_

* * *

Gabriel, Angela, Darren and Anne sat down in Amity Colosseum with Team RWBY and Emerald just as team JNPR was about to begin their match. As they did Gabriel felt a sharp, cold sting running down his back, the feeling of which made him cringe in annoyance.

"Honey, is something wrong?"

Gabriel blinked, "It's nothing. Just a weird tingle. That's all."

* * *

 _ **Alright, now time to clarify things that I said in this chapter, because even I know that it doesn't entirely make sense unless you know my plans for the future.**_

 _ **Firstly, the bit with the Elder. Some of you might be asking, "Why the heck was was it happy about losing?" Allow me to explain.**_

 _ **In this story, The Elders once were a part of a race had total dominance over the entire Milky Way galaxy a really long time ago. Really long ago as in they ruled in a time before the first life on Earth, which, for reference, is approximately 3.5 billion years ago. The empire was massive, and using their psionics coupled with their hyper advanced tech, they effectively keep the galaxy in a perpetual state of theirs.**_

 _ **Now here comes the issue. Somehow, the entire species caught this disease that caused rapid and irreversible neurodegeneration which lead to the inability to reproduce and ultimately death, which killed 99.9999% of their entire population, leaving only a few hundred of them left alive. Now, the ones who were left alive weren't immune, they would eventually die because of old age, and those who were left eventually came to the consensus that they had been judged unworthy to keep their position as the rulers of the galaxy. Thus, they decided to rescind control to another species with The Gift, as they believed that only a species with The Gift as strong or stronger than themselves were worthy of ruling.**_

 _ **Basically, they constructed giant machines to seed the galaxy with life that had the potential to be Psionic, and whenever one arose as a possible candidate, the Elders would test them against their own creations to see if they were worthy. Now, in this cycle, Humanity was taken from Earth to Remanent for the express purpose of containing the Grimm. This is why there are two humanities, on different worlds. In essence, it was another test by the Elders.**_

 _ **Now, as to why the Elder who spoke with the Commander was so happy about Humanity's victory? Simply put, no other species had the will that humanity did, nore the raw psionic potential. Most other species that the Elders fought caved in the second they saw the tech that the Elders employed. Humanity didn't, and rather, humanity fought and they fought hard. Heck, even after they "lost" they still fought, still stood in defiance of their conquerors. And they proved themselves stronger than the Elders by destroying them all.**_

 _ **As for why this is important? I had an idea a while back, and this connects to it in great length. As for what it is, I guess we'll just have to wait until this thing is done. Believe me, I have a lot of ideas for this story, more than I ever think I could reasonably ever write. Now onto the second thing that I wanted to dump on you all.**_

 _ **While this isn't the chapter for the Faunus, I thought it a good idea to explain here, because I am taking some liberties with lore. Unlike the show, when a Faunus and a human have a child, it is a fifty/fifty chance that the child will be Faunus or fully human. As for how they came to be? It was just how both humanities were seeded, with that dormant trait in their genome. The trait itself is either dormant or active, and can only exist in one of those two states. Genetically, this means that if the trait is expressed, all germ cells (Sperm and Egg cells) will only possess that version of the trait. If a human and a Faunus have a child and the child is human, the child's germ cells will only express the human version of the gene.**_

 _ **Sorry for the massive exposition dump at the end, if you have any questions, concerns, anything at all, just lemme know in PMs or a review. Other than that, have a good one, and all see you all next time.**_

 _ **Narsauce, signing off.**_


	9. Connecting Dots

_**Sup, it's me, back at it again. Sorry for this taking so long, I'm in the final stretch of high school and I'm trying to keep my sanity together. That and Destiny 2 are really taking up my time something fierce.**_

 _ **For me, this is the second longest chapter I've ever written for this specific story, at just over seven thousand words. Mind you, that's small fry compared to some people on here but what can you do but get better? Dunno. Anyways, review time!**_

 _ **jmccalmont11: That makes more sense. And don't worry, Emerald will become happy. Soonish... yeah...**_

 _ **And finally, RT owns RWBY and Firaxis owns X-Com, so yeah, I don't, funnily enough. Would be really neat if I did.**_

* * *

 _Skyranger on route to Chicago Warp Rift Testing facility…_

The Commander woke with a start, her head jolting upwards, her breathing ragged and laboured, her entire body drenched in sweat and her hands shaking. She tried to calm herself, clinging to her conversation with the Elder who invaded her dreams.

" _ **Home,"**_ it had said, " _ **Your brother has returned home."**_

Home? Her brother was home? That was too good to be true! She could finally go back and see him, to be a sister like she always wanted!

But there were other details that stirred her thoughts, namely when the Elder has said, " _ **You looked up to the sky in hopes of finding a treasure that doesn't exist when upon the chest you stood. You failed to recognize when the thing you were looking for was right in front of you."**_

" _I stood on the chest I was looking for?"_ She thought quizzically, " _The thing I was looking for was right in front of me? What?"_

" _ **He never knew his birth family, a fact that I am truly ashamed to admit was our own fault, for it was us that separated them."**_

" _Gabriel never knew his birth family?"_ She thought on, " _So they took him when he was too youn…"_

Then, like an 18 wheeler speeding down a freeway, it hit her. The pieces flew together, the clouds parted, giving way to sunlight.

" _Could it…"_ she thought, her eyes wide with surprise, " _But he doesn't have the eyes. Dad said we all do. But… come to think of it, he looks like a young version of Dad. And he feels so similar…"_

Her mind flew, piecing together a picture, pulling up an image of Gabriel on her datapad, " _If he had the eyes, he…"_

She coloured the eyes, swapping out their normal hazel brown for the same sharp silver colour that her's were. As she looked upon her work, her heart nearly stopped, her blood froze over and her mind nearly broke down. Her datapad slipped from her hands, dropping to the floor.

Gabriel, with silver eyes, looked like a spitting image of her father. Just as she was one of her mother, he was one of her father. It was frightening to see such a close resemblance.

" _Is… is this what it meant?"_ The Commander thought, shocked, " _Is Gabriel my… is he my brother?"_

She picked up her datapad, her hands flying desperately across the screen as she called Tygan.

" _Hello, Com…"_

He could barely finish his sentence before the Commander was off, "Tygan, do we have a blood sample for Gabriel?"

" _Pardon?"_

"Do we, or do we not have a blood sample from Gabriel?" She said slowly, punctuating each word with a short pause.

" _I… I don't know, but I believe we do have one somewhere. Why do you ask?"_

"I need to confirm something," she replied, "I… I just had a… weird dream."

" _And what is it that you need to confirm?"_

"I… can you take a blood sample from me, as well?" She asked, "I want to see if we're related."

" _Related, Commander?"_ Tygan replied, " _How did come to that conclusion?"_

"Remember how I said weird dream?" She said, "I had a weird as fuck dream."

" _Well, I won't say anything, Commander,"_ Tygan stated, " _I'll be ready to start when you get back."_

The line went dead and the Commander sighed, clipping her datapad back to her belt. She clasped her face, a single teardrop falling from her eye as she was taken deep into thought. Her thoughts drifted back towards her time back home, her little daughters, despite only one being biologically hers. She thought about how different her life would be once she got back, once she revealed to Gabriel the fact that he still had a family and it was still there, still alive.

Then again, that assumption all hinges on her being correct in the assumption that he is indeed her long lost twin brother.

Which she was pretty confident about, all in all. He did look exactly like her, and possibly his, father when he was around 40. A bit less facial hair, but her father liked to grow it out, and supposedly he had a full beard when he was twenty-five, around when they would've been born, if what mom said was anything to go by.

In fact, just thinking about Gabriel with a beard like a dad's made her chuckle. Angela had made it a point that she absolutely detested beards (Because she thought they were annoying to clean if food got in them), however, he did maintain somewhat of a stubble, sort of like Bradley, actually.

Gabriel was only a slight bit shorter than her father, who stood at six-foot-six, where Gabriel stood at six-foot-five. He must have gotten a bit more from their dad than their mom than she did, where she stood at five foot seven, maybe five foot eight if she was generous. Then again, her mom was only five foot seven.

The skyranger shook landings at the Chicago testing facility site. The ramp extended down and The Commander walked down and out, stretching her legs and letting out a sigh of relief. She noticed Tygan and Vahlen standing by the entrance to the main facility, both on datapads. Knowing Tygan, as well as the limited knowledge of Vahlen she got from Bradford, it was safe to assume they were comparing notes from the tests.

She approached them, practically in a sprint, calling out, "Tygan! Is everything ready?!"

"Ah, yes," Tygan nodded, "We did find a blood sample of Gabriel's. You're lucky. It was archived in Anne's Gremlin. You'd be surprised at how many useful things that little drone had stored in it when it was active."

"How the hell did Anne get a blood sample from Gabe?"

"All of them were together for two decades," Vahlen shrugged, "Anne was the only one who could have offered medical aid on the field, so she would have needed to have documentation."

"So you don't have an actual blood sample?"

"We don't, but we have everything that is necessary to determine genetic relation," Tygan assured, "All we need now is your genetic pattern and we can get started."

"So just a blood test, right?"

"Exactly," Tygan nodded.

* * *

 _Beacon Academy…_

"You know…" Darren commented, "I don't think we need another cruiser with however many knights they brought. There's already an army here."

Ironwood facepalmed, "I'm just being cautious, Darren. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Not particularly," Darren conceded, "Buuuuuttttt there is such thing as overcompensation. And this," he gestured to the Atlesain cruiser docked at Beacon, "Is this really all that necessary? I mean, you already have how many others here."

"So I brought in more troops to resupply the security forces," Ironwood countered, "And yes, it is necessary. The Vytal festival is a show of our strength and unity. And I am showing strength and unity."

Darren laughed hysterically, "UNITY? Dude, you are currently in the middle of a festival dedicated to celebrating that exact thing, WHY ARE YOU BRINGING IN MORE FUKCING TROOPS!? YOU ALREADY HAVE AN ARMY HERE! HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THAT?!"

"Yes, but our enemies will think twice before attacking now," Ironwood replied.

"Our enemies… our enemies are fucking monsters who, one, don't feel fear, and two, couldn't care less how big your army is and, how many fucking times do I have to say this," Darren paused, "GUNS ARE USELESS IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO POINT THEM AT!"

"I am also bringing in one of my specialists," Ironwood continued, "Her name is Winter Schnee."

"Weiss' sister?"

Ironwood laughed, "How did you guess?"

"Name," Darren replied, "Tell me, are all the Schnee's named after something to do with winter?"

Ironwood shook his head, "I don't believe so. Their mother, Willow, is named after a tree. And their father is named Jacques."

"Great, a Frenchman," Darren muttered, "Twit from surrender land. I've heard he's an asshole."

"I'm not going to disagree with that," Ironwood whispered, "Just try to keep that on the down low. Jacques is not my favourite person ever, quite the opposite actually. I despise him and his treatment of Faunus, but there is little I can actually do."

"I thought you had a big army," Darren smirked, "Couldn't you just threaten him to not be…"

"Not be what?"

"Y'know, be a complete ass."

Ironwood shook his head, "Unfortunately no, I can't. As much as I would love to tell him exactly where to shove his foot, the SDC supplies practically every ounce of Dust that we use. The SDC has a complete monopoly in the energy sector, so going after them would only lead to disaster."

"Ah."

"And even more damning are the dozens of professional hunters who have flocked to him because of how much he's willing to pay them," Ironwood professed, "The… morally grey graduates of the academies tend to become mercenaries, outlaws. Some of the bad ones go off to join the scattered bandit tribes around the world, but the ones employed by Jacques are the greediest, the absolute bottom of the barrel. And he has an army of those people who just want money."

"So in other words, white-haired dick wad man has is own private army of professional warriors," Darren confirmed, "Well ain't that just bullshit."

"Believe me, I know how bullshit Jacques is. Multiple accounts of abuse from the hunters, ranging from physical to sexual," Ironwood continued, his tone souring, "And even with my considerable influence in Atlas as a whole, Jacques has almost every single council member eating out of his hand."

"Well now you're making me want to shot that shit even more than I already did, so congrats," Darren jokingly remarked, slapping Ironwood's back, "Y'know, I haven't been the nicest guy to you over the past little while…"

"No kidding," Ironwood replied in a similarly joking manner, "You haven't been the best at following order, either."

"Well…" Darren shrugged, "You're right. And, if I'm both being honest, we both have the same goal, to preserve our world, at all costs. So following orders is to a T, in my opinion, secondary."

"So that's why you ignore me?"

"Look, as long as your orders mean that people will be saved in the most efficient way possible, then I'm in," Darren replied, "But if you want me to keep your toy Paladin in one piece and you're willing to let people get hurt to do just that, then no, I won't follow that."

Ironwood shrugged, "I suppose you are right."

Darren and Ironwood shared a genuine laugh, probably for the first time since the two had met, seeing as how Darren was often antagonistic of the general. Then again, he was slightly antagonistic towards the Commander as well, but having known each other for a decade, his antagonizing had grown on her quite a bit, though he wasn't the first person to do so, apparently.

Apparently, she had a kid with the first one. At that point though, Anne had got defensive.

"So, this Winter kid, is she a good person?"

Ironwood nodded, "She is unlike her father, and quite similar to her sister, in that regard. Though she is quite by the book… and she does have a temper."

"How bad of a temper?"

"Nothing too horrible, it's just she doesn't like anyone who disrespects authority," Ironwood said, "Which is why I doubt she'll like you all that much."

"Shucks!" Darren sarcastically said, his faux sadness as subtle as a sledgehammer, "She won't like me all that much?! Whatever shall I do?!"

"Maybe stop being so damn sarcastic," Ironwood chuckled, "Now come on. You are your group's representative, you need to make a… decent impression. Winter is one of my most trusted subordinates."

"Eh, it'll be fine, the rest of us are coming too," Darren reassured, "I think Angela and Gabe are walking to meet up with Anne on the way here."

The two began to walk towards the cruiser, the two being joined by both Ozpin and Glynda, who they had planned on conducting a meeting with earlier that day, mainly to discuss potential inheritors of the Fall Maiden's power. Candidate wise, they had two current possibilities.

The first possibility was Ruby Rose, for some strange reason. Despite her being the youngest and most inexperienced of all the possible choices, Ozpin made it clear that if the first choice somehow… disappeared or became unable to take the powers herself, Ruby would have to take up the mantle.

The more likely possibility, however, was Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl, champion of Mistral. She was the group's first choice, not only for her skills but for her compassion and how she acts, being that she is quite friendly and humble, despite her great status. Gabriel had pointed out that she would also be one of the few people who would actually take on the role of the Fall maiden. Not only that, he had noted, she has a strong support base, what with her team as well as that of team RWBY.

When questioned on why Ruby would only be a secondary option, Ozpin had shrugged off the question, saying, "She already has enough of a target on her back. Something that her… uncle, a man named Qrow has made very clear to all of us."

As for Qrow himself, little information was given to the four, other than that he has black hair, blood red eyes and he wielded a sword-scythe-gun hybrid. Ozpin had also said that he had a… complicated relationship with the family, one where he had a strong bond with the children, but never stayed too close.

As for his connection with Ruby and Yang, all Ozpin said was that Yang's mother was Qrow's sister, who had disappeared shortly after she and Taiyang had Yang. While it did sound like there was more to this Qrow than Ozpin let on in the start, but they didn't press him for any more details.

But even that statement Ozpin made about why Ruby was the secondary option raised some questions for Alpha. How he phrased it, what with the pause when he said Qrow is Ruby's uncle raised some questions in their collective minds. For Darren and Gabriel, they wanted to dig a bit deeper into this relationship between Ruby and Qrow but for Anne and Angela, they didn't want to barge into Qrow's personal life, however strange they thought it was.

Also, for whatever reason, Ozpin had also neglected to mention the name of Ruby's mother and didn't divulge anything other than the fact that she had been gone for a decade. Ozpin just smiled when he was asked, the only reply he gave was, "You already know."

Which was strange, considering how Alpha only just came to Remnant and had never actually met anyone who looked like Ruby on Remnant. Sure, there was The Commander, who did look quite similar to Ruby, what with the silver coloured eyes and brown hair, and while the similarities between the two could go on and on, they could never confirm nor could they deny the relation. On top of that, she almost never spoke of her children.

Ture, while Gabriel did wake up to her talking in her sleep about, "Her little cookie eater," or, "Her little red wolf," that didn't confirm any relationship between them. Even if Ruby was addicted to cookies and consumed them at a rate that would eventually make her a clinical type-2 diabetic and she consistently wore the colour red, that still didn't prove anything.

And on top of that, the Commander only ever divulged her first name to the four, plus Bradford, Lily and Tygan. So comparing lineages through last names was impossible.

Asking Ruby directly would be a way of determining their connection, but since Alpha had no way of knowing whether or not they could ever go back home and thus no way of seeing The Commander, they thought it was a mercy to have Ruby still think she was dead. After all, what would be more painful than knowing someone you love is still out there but you could never see them again?

Not much, all things considered.

Besides, Ruby already had enough on her plate, what with leading a team, teenage hormones, being overly self-conscious and critical as well as the Vytal festival. Adding to the fact that the mother she thought to be dead actually still being alive but nearly impossible to see again and you have a recipe for what most people like to call extreme depression.

And for obvious reasons, extreme depression was and will never be something that any of them wanted to ever give anyone.

For Darren, it was quite an easy decision, because he really didn't want to ruin Ruby's life by letting her in on the secret. After all, seeing Ruby being puppy-eyed, pouty, angry, or in any way unhappy/begging seemed to destroy his resolve. Completely. Even though he is a professional soldier, able to keep his cool in the most extreme of situations, that face that Ruby made took his demeanour and practically mind controlled him to act until she was happy again.

" _Maybe that's what it's like having a daughter,"_ he wondered to himself, " _Jeez. If this is how I react to Ruby, how in fucks name will I react to my kid doing this?"_

"Darren?" Glynda asked, "What are you daydreaming about?"

"Meh, nothing," Darren rolled his eyes, "Nothing to be worried about. And no, I am not daydreaming, I'm thinking."

Glynda sighed, "Thinking about?"

"Again, nothing," Darren replied.

Ozpin chuckled, "You seem to be thinking a lot about nothing."

Darren shrugged again, brushing the question off, "And you think about everything too much, Ozpin."

"Fair enough," Ozpin smiled, "Has Winter arrived?"

Ironwood nodded, "Yes, she had. Though I thought she would be here with us by now. I wonder what is keeping her held up?"

Darren's scroll pinged, as a message from Gabriel appeared on his screen, "Oh hey, look. A message from Gabe. Wonder what he's up to."

" _You know that Specialist from Atlas we were supposed to meet?"_

Darren looked at his scroll quizzically, before typing back, " _Yeah, Ironwood and I were just talking about her. What's up?"_

The scroll pinged a reply, " _She's trying to gut someone."_

"Wait, what?!"

The trio of Ironwood, Glynda and Ozpin turned to look at Darren when he made that remark. Ozpin was the first to speak after Darren's outburst, "Darren, if I may ask, what are you concerned with?"

"According to Gabe, Winter is trying to gut someone," Darren said, "So yeah, a real professional, that one is."

"SHE'S WHAT!?"

"Woody, I just said it," Darren sighed, "Winter. Is. Trying. To. Gut. Someone."

Ironwood only growled in response and rushed off, muttering a wide range of curses and profanities with every step he took. Darren looked over at Ozpin and Glynda and he laughed hysterically, the other two quickly joining in with the laughter.

"Alright, I do believe we should go and stop James from killing Winter," Ozpin said as he dried his eyes from the bout of laughing.

"Killing Winter?" Glynda scoffed, "Don't be an idiot. James would never do that. Besides, I doubt he actually could. She is the Winter maiden, after all."

Darren looked back at Glynda, confused slightly, "Aren't we supposed to keep that on the down low?"

"No one is currently around, so it should be fine," Ozpin commented, "Besides, Winter should be high on our list of people we have to protect. And I believe that we didn't let you in on the other maidens as of yet."

"Do you even know any other maidens other than Amber and Winter?"

Ozpin shook his head, "The Summer maiden disappeared a while back, maybe a few decades ago and she hasn't shown herself again, be it another incarnation of the maiden or her. Spring has also disappeared, but I don't know to where."

"Know either?"

"Only one, yes," Ozpin nodded in reply, "Spring was Yang's mother."

Darren's face contorted into one of smug superiority, "So in other words, what you're saying here is that you have a really bad track record of keeping these maidens safe. Now I know why we're here."

"It's not necessarily our fault, per se," Ozpin shrugged, "We have told you all about the specifications of how Maiden powers change hands. It is quite confusing, to say the least. If either had died, another maiden would've taken their place quite speedily. But as it is, neither of them have returned to the field of play. At least not yet, to my knowledge."

"So, if you know about Spring being Yang's mom, where did she go?"

Ozpin shook his head, "I couldn't pin down an exact location, but as it is, I'm more content with letting her keep her distance. Raven Branwen is a very skilled fighter so dealing with Salem's minions should be easy enough for her. Sending anyone after her will most likely get them killed."

"Would she really kill them?"

"Knowing her, very possibly," Ozpin conceded, "The Raven I knew was, and still most likely is, a survivalist. She will do anything to keep on living."

Darren shrugged, "Well she's probably just a blast to be around in parties…"

The three continued to jog off in the direction of Ironwood, as well as the sounds of explosions, the clashing of blades, etc. Finally, they heard the tell-tale sign that Ironwood had finally arrived on the scene. A gunshot, followed by…

"SCHNEE!"

The ear-shattering and quite commanding shout was soon followed up by a, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

Quickly, the one who could quickly be identified as Winter Schnee stood straight as a board, her curved sword mere centimetres away from the throat of the man she was fighting. Quickly, she turned around to face Ironwood, her sword seemingly sheathing itself, "He instigated this engagement, General Ironwood."

"That's not true," the man said, "She swung first."

Ironwood sighed, looking over to see Gabriel, Angela and Anne looking on at the now ended fight, "Did you observe?"

They nodded and Ironwood continued, "Is that true?"

"Meh, sorta," Gabriel shrugged, "Qrow did taunt her, but Winter here sure as hell didn't keep her cool. I'd say both of them are with some sort of fault, at the very least."

"So that's Qrow?" Darren whispered to Ozpin. He nodded in response.

Ironwood again took a deep sigh, turning to the now named Qrow, "And you. What the hell are you doing here."

Qrow gave a smug look in response, "I could be asking you the same question, Jimmy."

It was at this time that Ozpin decided to intervene in the affair, with him, Glynda and Darren waking up from behind, "Now, now, now. There is a fully sanctioned fight taking place right now and I can assure you that it has better seats. And popcorn."

Glynda gripped and waved her riding crop, "Alright everyone, break it up. I'll deal with the mess."

Anne was almost sure that she could hear a subtle, " _Again…"_ from Glynda's mouth. She chuckled as debris began to glow purple and Glynda engulfed it in her semblance, preparing to return the courtyard back to the pre-fight state. Ironwood grunted and motioned his shoulder, signalling for Winter to follow him, for a… talk.

"Eh, not the worst fight I've seen," Gabriel shrugged as he walked up to Ozpin, "First time I fought the Chosen Assassin was just after we found the Commander, maybe two or three days after. I levelled a building by accident."

Ozpin chuckled and rolled his eyes while the group observed as Ruby quickly went to tackle Qrow or his arm at least.

Even with her speed, Ruby still was only five foot, one inch tall, compared to Qrow, who stood about a foot taller, give an inch or two, and probably had at the very least fifty to seventy-five pounds on the girl.

Still, despite the smaller stature of Ruby, she still somehow managed to stagger Qrow when she went in for the hug.

"Uncle QROW! Didja miss me? Didja miss me?!" The Red Reaper quickly questioned, barely giving her weary uncle a second to respond. Qrow returned a smug look, only saying one thing quite sarcastically…

"Nope…" he snarkily replied, scratching and patting the young girl's head, smiling all the while. It was sweet to watch, for Anne and Angela, seeing the two having that familial bond together.

However, the familial sweetness that was occurring quickly ceased, seeing as how Ozpin intervened, "Qrow. A word?"

"We needed for this?" Gabriel asked, walking up to Ozpin, "Or is the talk about the courtyard?"

"Yes, you will be needed," Ozpin nodded, "Please head to my office as quickly and discreetly as you can. We have much to discuss."

"Alrighty then, we'll head there," Darren said, "See you in a few, Oz."

Ozpin smiled as the four jogged off towards the tower. He looked back at Qrow, who fist fist-bumped and walked towards him, slightly confused, "So, Ozzy. Who the heck are they?"

"Allies, Qrow," Ozpin replied, "Probably the best allies we could ever get."

* * *

 _A few minutes later, Ozpin's Office, Beacon Tower…_

Tension was in the air, mainly coming from Winter Schnee, who had been pacing around for the better part of ten to twelve minutes. Alpha squadron had joined both her and Ironwood in waiting for the last three present members of Ozpin's cabal.

Or as Darren had taken to calling it, The Fucking Illuminati. Because, in a way, that's exactly what it was.

The elevator dinged, the door shifted open and the three remaining members of The Illuminati were revealed, Qrow with an even bigger antagonizing smirk on his face.

The tension that had been building up with Winter's anger was finally released as she surged forward accusingly, her finger drawn like her sword, "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?"

"Qrow, if you were one of my men, I'd have had you shot, there and then," Ironwood commented, his own fist clenched at his side.

Qrow chuckled and his hand went to his flask, "If I was one of your men, I'd shoot myself."

"I like this one," Gabriel chuckled, Qrow responding with a chuckle of his own. Darren and Anne were attempting to not laugh, where Angela just rolled her eyes.

"While I do not condone what Qrow did today," Glynda muttered, "Retaliating as you did, Winter, most certainly didn't help de-escalate the situation."

"HE WAS DRUNK!"

"HE'S ALWAYS DRUNK!"

Qrow was drinking. As expected.

"Qrow put down the flask, you can continue to kill your liver later. Right now, we have work to do," Darren said, his palm on his head. Qrow groaned in response and removed the flask from his lips and shrugged, tightening the lid and re-attaching it to his waist.

Ozpin himself sighed deeply, "Qrow, why are you here?"

"You've been out of contact for weeks, you can't just go dark like that in the field!"

Qrow growled, "I'm not one of you're special operatives, Jimmy."

"General," Winter interrupted.

Angela placed her hand on the Schnee's shoulder, "Winter, stop antagonizing him. We're all on the same side here."

"You know, I'm starting to like you four," Qrow smiled, "Anyway, you all sent me to get intel on our enemy and I'm gonna be blunt. Our enemy is here."

"We know," Ironwood bluntly remarked.

"Oh!" Qrow said in a mocking tone, "Oh, you know, do ya? We'll thank fuck that I'm out there risking my neck to keep you all so fucking well informed!"

"Qrow…"

"Communication's a two-way street, pal," Qrow pulled his scroll out of thin air, "See this? It's called the send button. Learn how to use it."

"They had reason to assume…"

At this point, the group was just arguing with each other, so Gabriel decided to do something he did quite well. So, in his palm, he condensed a small amount of psionic energy and crushed it, sending a small golden ripple throughout the room as he commandingly shouted:

" **ENOUGH!"**

Everyone in the room went absolutely silent and almost rigid as a board and Gabriel continued, "So, you five are supposed to be the last line of defence against Salem. So stop bickering like little children and fucking get on with it. Spill the beans, Qrow."

"Well, at least some of the new additions have a little respect," Qrow muttered as he took a swig from his flask, "Anyway, Ozpin. Your little infiltrator isn't just another pawn of the queen. They're directly responsible for Autumn's condition."

And… silence.

Which Glynda broke, "What?!"

"Despite what the world thinks of us, we're not just teacher, not just headmasters, not just generals, not just specialists, not just… ummm…" Qrow gestured vaguely in the direction of Alpha squad, "Whatever you guys are."

"Just say we're super soldiers," Darren suggested, "That's probably the best way I can describe our group."

"Alright, super soldiers then," Qrow shrugged, before continuing his rant, "The people in this room? The headmasters of the other two academies? We're the ones who protect the world from the shit no-one even knows exists. There's a damn reason why we meet behind closed doors and work in the fucking shadows! So you tell me, Ironwood, when you brought your armies to Vale, did you think you were being the slightest bit discrete? Or did you just not give a crap?!"

"Discrete wasn't working," Ironwood said as he placed his phone on Ozpin's table, "When the people of Vale look to the skies and see Atlas's fleets, they will feel safe in our combined strength."

"No, they won't."

Everyone turned to look at Angela and she continued, "Two things I'd like to point out, James. The first, your defences are great, superb, even. You've prepared for any eventuality."

James was about to make a smartass remark before Angela cut him off, "But your armies are like a shield. And just like a shield, they work best when facing the enemy. Shields don't work when there is a dagger lodged in your gut from behind. With our enemies in our ranks, that's exactly where a dagger would end up. And secondly, a little quote that might describe this situation perfectly."

"Strength invites Challenge, Challenge insights Conflict and Conflict breeds Catastrophe. You yourself said that you brought your armies here to Vale as a show of unity and strength, but all you will accomplish is suffering and hardship because of it," Angela quoted, drawing a slight roll of the eyes from Gabriel

"See, she understands," Qrow continued, "You really think Salem is going to be in any way scared of you toy ships, Ironwood? Really?! I've seen what Queeny's made out there and let me tell you. They. Are. Fear. Plain and simple."

"And fear will bring the Grimm," Ozpin stood up, "As has been mentioned before, an army is a symbol of conflict, not like a Guardian, one of comfort and security. With your army here, James, everyone in Vale has as single, subconscious, question lingering on their minds. If these are the forces we have mustered to battle, then what exactly are we planning on fighting?"

Ironwood sighed, his hand on his forehead, "If that is the case, what would you have us do, Ozpin?"

Ozpin smiled, "Find our Guardian, of course."

* * *

 _Shortly after the meeting ended…_

Soon after the group left the office, Angela and Anne hurried off back to the room to prepare dinner for the group, as Darren and Gabe did so last night, leaving the aforementioned men to hang around with Qrow in the living room area of their residences.

"Sooo…" Gabriel said, "What's your deal with Ironwood, Qrow?"

"I could ask you the same question, pal," Qrow respond, another swig of his flask downed, "So, you tell me, then I'll tell you."

Darren shrugged, "Seems fair enough. See, we mainly don't like Ironwood for a few reasons. One of those reasons is that we regularly only go under the command of a woman we call The Commander, but even then, it's more mutual. We give her suggestions and she'll take them at face value. She can even admit that any of us would probably be better suited for the job of Commander, but we help her and in turn, she leads as best she can."

"So where does Ironwood come into this?"

"Ironwood, to put it bluntly, is narcissistic and thinks his big guns can solve everything," Gabriel explained, "But sometimes, a scalpel works better than a hacksaw. Ironwood thinks overwhelming military might will solve all his problems. But he doesn't think about the covert ops, that sort of stuff."

"I know what you mean," Qrow replied, "Ironwood is a control freak, even more than Ozpin is. Which says something."

"So, what's your beef with Ironwood?"

"I just don't like how he does things," Qrow shrugged, "I like doing my own thing, going out and seeing the world and protecting it. Y'know, my job."

"So in other words, you'd probably love the Commander," Darren smiled as he himself took some whisky and poured himself a shot glass.

"You guys talk a lot about this 'Commander' of yours," Qrow said, "Who is she?"

Gabriel and Darren looked at each other, silently having a conversation with one another until both of them nodded and Gabriel replied, "Actually, that's a question we wanted to ask you, Qrow."

"Pardon?"

"Well, you see, ever since we started talking to Ozpin, he's informed us of your existence," Gabriel explained, "Now, at our behest, Darren and I did a bit of research on your past, mainly because we want to know whose hands were going to be leaving our lives in. And I came across something… interesting to say the least."

"What was so interesting?" Qrow inquired, in curiosity getting the better of him.

"Well, it revolves around your team from when you are at Beacon," Darren said, snapping his finger. The Gremlin floated over to them, projecting a fairly familiar image of team STRQ when they were in their graduation year. The picture of them all standing near a tree, striking a pose.

"If what I read was fully and completely true, your team was comprised of yourself, your sister, Raven, Taiyang Xiao-Long, and your leader, Summer Rose, whom I'm assuming is Ruby's mother based on their common last name," Gabriel spoke, pointing at each of the members of the team one by one, "Now, as a group, we only personally know two people with Silver eyes. Ruby and The Commander. Now, if our suspicions are proved false, that would add a third to that list, but if they are correct…"

Qrow sat forward, deadly serious and glaring deep into the souls of the two sitting across from him, "What the hell are you implying, Gabriel, Darren?"

"We'll answer that, but I have a question for you," Gabriel said, "Is the name Summer common among people with Silver eyes?"

Qrow's eyes shot open, his hand shaking, "What…?"

"Qrow, I asked a question."

"No…" he responded.

"And her," Gabriel said, bringing up a picture of Angela, Anne and The Commander, standing in front of a lake, holding up three salmons on fishing lines, "The Commander is the woman on the right, for reference. Do you recognize her?"

Qrow was even more stunned, "When was this picture taken?"

"Six years ago."

Qrow went limp, "Six years… She's… she's…"

"Even more damning," Darren said, as the Gremlin began projecting a calendar, "is the fact that, while we've been here, we've had the chance to sync your calendar up with our own. And what did we find?"

Before Qrow could even ask what, Darren continued, "Your Summer disappeared ten years ago, between when she was sent on her last mission and when she was pronounced KIA," pointing to a week-long time-frame in the early to mid-fall, "Our Summer appeared two days after yours was sent on the mission. Now, I've seen a lot of coincidences, but this is no coincidence. Look at them, they look like god damn identical twins."

Qrow contemplated this… revelation, if that's what it could be called. Summer was alive and according to these people, doing just fine. Which raises a question…

"Did she ever talk about us?"

Gabriel nodded, "She did, but she never got too deep into anything. She said she missed you all too much to talk about you too much in depth. Brought back some painful memories, mainly the ones about how she could never see her friends or her kids ever again. If I had to guess, all she ever wanted to do was go home."

As Qrow looked at the ground, saddened, "So, she never mentioned any of us?"

"She always teared up when we talked about her past," Gabriel reminisced, "Sometimes her crying got so bad she couldn't even speak. The first few times we tried to push about her past we ended up with an hour of wailing, so we let her go at her own pace. We learned a bit, her parent's names and the name of a childhood pet, but nothing more."

"And you didn't tell Ruby why?"

Darren shrugged, "The same reason we held off on telling you, Qrow. We didn't know how she would react. Think about it, Ruby thinks her mom has been dead for the past decade and funnily enough learns that she is not dead, just on another planet. And it's impossible to get to her."

"Then how the hell did you guys get here?" Qrow asked, "Can't you just do that again and bring her home?"

"Wormholes and no," Gabriel explained, "They're unpredictable, so hitting home would be one in a million and worse, we have no idea how to recreate them. As far as I can tell, no, there is no way we can get home."

"We didn't tell Ruby because we didn't want the hurt her," Darren said, "She's got a lot on her shoulders, big shoes to fill, if you get what I mean. And learning that Summer was alive but unreachable… well, it would break her. And we couldn't do that."

"So what the hell did you think it would do to me?" Qrow asked, a small amount of venom stinging his voice, "I thought she died and I never could make peace with it. So why did you think it was a good idea to tell me, huh?!"

"Look, I apologize if it's hard, to talk about her," Gabriel said, "But you're a grown adult, you can handle it. Believe me, we have all lost a lot back home, and if someone told me Reyes was still alive and kicking, but I could never see him again, I'd be happy for the fucker. But he's dead. At least Summer is alive."

"She was my best friend, asshole!" Qrow yelled, "When she died, I almost went insane! Fuck, the only thing that kept me sane was Taiyang and Alcohol! Maybe Ruby, because she looks like her mom, but still! It hurt me when they said she was dead! You can't just say that she's alive!"

Qrow got up, a small tear in his eye, and he walked out of the room, the door slamming on his way out. Gabriel and Darren look at each other, the both of them sighing.

"Do you think we made a mistake?"

Gabriel shrugged, "I think Qrow is strong. He can handle it."

" _I hope…"_

* * *

 _Avenger, Infirmary…_

"How's it going, Tygan?"

"The tests are going well, Commander," Tygan replied, "The Shadow Chamber is working at its fastest and we should get results in the next few minutes. Though I will ask, how did you come to this conclusion?"

"Weird dream," Summer sighed, "An Elder visited me and told me how 'Proud' they were of us. How we succeeded, how we as a species will go on to become something greater."

"How does that help you come to the conclusion that you and Gabriel are in any way related?" Vahlen commented as she entered the room, her hand flying across her datapad, "From what I remember, when Reyes picked them up after the Psi bomb had detonated, all their families had died."

"That's the thing," Summer said, "Apparently, Gabriel was never from here. According to the Elder I spoke to said that they took him from our home when he was young, too young to remember anything. I lost him when we were two and a half. I don't remember anything from any of that time, so I doubt he would either."

"I mean, he also looks like my dad," she tagged on at the end.

"I can neither confirm nor can I deny that statement," Tygan shrugged.

Summer huffed, and continued to sit there impatiently, her arms crossed as she lay on the infirmary bed, her mind drifting back to her encounter with the Elder, "Hey Tygan? Vahlen?"

"Yes, Commander?"

"You know how we are currently trying to reach out to Alpha with the Shadow Chamber and that Amplifier doohickey thing that you two and Shen cooked up in the lab a few days ago?"

Vahlen looked slightly confused, "Yes… What are you suggesting, Commander?"

"Well… I was thinking now would be a good time to hook me up to it, maybe we could see some results," Summer suggested, scratching the back of her head nervously.

"I don't see why not," Tygan replied, pulling up a medical screen showing the data that had currently been processing in the Shadow Chamber, "Though I thought we said that hooking you up would be the last resort."

"I…" Summer began to respond, "Well, I guess I'm just impatient. To go home, to see Gabe, Angela, Darren, Anne. To see my kids, my husband. I guess I'm just ready to finally be back home. And with the aliens gone, what better time?"

"You do have a point," Vahlen smiled, "But you will need to rest, at least a day or two before we can hook you up. The exposure to the psionic rift left quite a large amount of psionic radiation on you during the trip. Just to be on the safe side, we'll hook you up later."

"Fine by me, I guess," Summer relented. At least she'd be able to see them all soon.

* * *

 _ **WELL, THAT WAS UNEXPECTED!**_

 _ **Said no-one ever. Yeah, The Commander was actually Summer so congrats to the people who saw through the deception that was about as effective as wet paper. Yes, Gabriel is Summer's brother, as I blatantly laid out this chapter.**_

 _ **No, he doesn't know that yet.**_

 _ **No, Qrow will not tell Ruby or Yang that Summer is alive. Right now he's struggling with his own emotions.**_

 _ **As for the rest of the cast? Well, Emerald is still intertwined with Cinder and the gang and her "Split personality" that is keeping her dependant on Cinder for life still exists. JNPR is being JNPR. Shen is doing tech things, Bradford is playing Space Invaders (Talk about Irony) and Tai is still watering those damn roses.**_

 _ **Please leave a review and I hope you have a lovely day.**_

 _ **Narsauce out.**_


	10. With Great Power

**_Welcome back. Before we start, I'd like to dedicate this chapter of this story to an author on this site by the name of Ptabs. Ptabs was, for those who don't know, the author behind "Remnant of a Rose" and "Remnant of an Iron Rose", and who commissioned the re-writing of the second of the two. On May 8, Fireteam Nero, the group of writers behind the re-write, announced that Ptabs had died. For a more in-depth explanation, go check their chapter most recent chapter. Ptabs was and will forever be one of my inspiration, who gave me the confidence boost I needed to write the stories I do. So, please, in Ptabs' honour, go Fave and Follow Fireteam Nero's re-write of Remnant of an Iron Rose. May he rest in peace._**

 ** _Anyway, see the end for another AN. Firaxis owns X-Com and RT owns RWBY. Let's go._**

* * *

 _Cinder's group's dorm, Two days before the Fall…_

Cinder looked on her scroll after she received some schematics from Dr. Watts, who was currently incognito in Atlas. Apparently, the dual purpose of the bug worked perfectly, allowing the disgraced Atlassian scientist to slip in and out of Atlas' military database quite quietly. Then again, hacking the mainframe was easy and quite doable, especially for the man who invented them.

The schematic she received was probably some of the best news she could have gotten from the old man. It was the design for a small, robotic girl with a synthetic aura, a prototype designed by Dr. Geppetto Polendina, which was known as Penny Polendina, as the robotic girl had been taken up as the scientist's daughter.

Which made her the perfect target for having their plans move forward.

Not only was Pyrrha Nikos present and competing in the festival, but her Semblance of Polarity would make quick work of Penny, regardless of aura, synthetic or not.

She chuckled, "Well, well, well… This will be fun."

Emerald looked up at Cinder from the floor, while she was playing a game on her scroll, "Umm, Mistress? What so going on?"

"Well, some new… the information has revealed itself to us," Cinder explained, "We're going to make some changes to the plan."

"And that means?" Mercury asked.

"That this is going to be so, so much easier than we first it first was," Cinder smiled.

Emerald looked over at Mercury, worry dotting her eyes. What was she planning?

* * *

 _Ozpin's tower…_

Ozpin sat on his gear laden chair, overlooking Beacon's ground as he has done so many times before. He looked on, both in fear and in curiosity.

Fear was obvious, simply because it was very likely close to losing everything he had built up over the past decades, as he had many times before. Possibly losing a relic to Salem. If they were really unlucky, they might lose an entire generation of hunters and huntresses along with countless more. And if their luck had shit the bed and smeared it on their faces, well… they might not have any Vale left to fight for.

Curiosity because he was intrigued. This was an interesting path, one relatively similar to the paths his past, but different enough to the roads that he had tread to make him question the outcome. Usually, he knew that it was possible to rebuild from his falls, but this. This infiltration was different and could spell doom for all he had worked for. Which made him curious to see the possible outcome.

The elevator door opened, revealing Gabriel and Qrow standing inside, both with a somewhat wary look on their faces, both drinking coffee, the lifeblood of the tired. They walked over to Ozpin's desk, Gabriel seemingly making an effort not the make eye contact with Qrow, probably because he just wanted to leave the other man to come to his senses before trying to spark up a conversation again.

"You know he's making you look like an idiot, right?" Qrow asked as he and Gabriel stopped at the desk.

Ozpin rolled his eyes. He knew Qrow didn't like Ironwood for how the General handles things but this was going a little too far. Ozpin countered, "His heart is in the right place, Qrow."

"Sometimes I'm not even sure he has one…" Qrow sipped his coffee.

"So, made your decision yet, Ozzy?" Gabriel asked, "Who are you making the next Maiden?"

Ozpin turned his chair, "You know Maidens choose themselves, Gabriel. I just believe we've found the right one to take up the mantle."

"Sooo… choice one," Gabriel said, another sip of his coffee.

Ozpin nodded, "Ever since the day I laid my eyes on her, I had a distinct feeling that she would be the one. She's strong, intelligent, compassionate, caring. But most importantly, she is ready for this. You would have to agree, right Gabriel?"

"No."

Ozpin cocked his head to the side, "But you've even said she was our best choice, Gabriel."

"She's our best choice," Gabriel conceded, "But that doesn't mean she's prepared. No one can ever be ready for this burden. She'll be hunted, her friends will be hunted, her family will be hunted. She will never be happy again. The fact of the matter is, Oz, she can't be ready. This is new waters for her, with new powers, new enemies."

Gabriel took another sip of his coffee, "She's gonna need guidance, more than we could ever provide for her. But even more than that she's going to be on her own."

Ozpin sighed, "I understand your concern, Gabriel and I have taken it to heart. Believe me…"

The elevator dinged, "She's here. Please, give us a few minutes."

The two men looked at each other, then Ozpin, then each other again and nodded understandingly. As the elevator doors opened, they had already moved to the side of the room, as Pyrrha Nikos exited.

"Ah, Ms. Nikos, please sit," Ozpin smiled, "We have a lot to discuss."

"Well, thank you, Professor," Pyrrha replied with her own cheerful smile.

Pyrrha sat down at the chair and Ozpin asked, "So, Ms. Nikos, how has the Vytal Festival been treating you? A bit stressed maybe?"

"Well, yes actually," Pyrrha replied, Gabriel softly chuckling, "I was chosen to move on to the next round."

"Well, your performance has been exemplary, hasn't it?"

Pyrrha smiled in response, "Well, I couldn't have done it without my team."

"From what I've seen, it's the other way around."

Pyrrha looked back at Qrow, stood up and politely replied, "I'm… I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've met before. Could I get your name?"

"Qrow."

Ozpin sighed, "Qrow here is a good friend and a trusted colleague of mine. He has been for a while."

"Professor," Pyrrha meekly turned around, "If you don't mind me asking, why did you call me here?"

"Pyrrha, please, do take a seat."

Pyrrha returned back to her seat, her eyes drifting ever so slightly around the room. She was nervous, worried about why she was here, what she could have done to be sent here. She was…

"What is your favourite fairy tale?"

"Ok… not what I was expecting…" Pyrrha thought to herself, surprised by Ozpin's sudden shift, "I'm… sorry, I must've misheard. You said…"

"Fairy tales. Stories from your childhood," Ozpin affirmed, "Surely you must remember some of them."

Gabriel looked over at Pyrrha and Ozpin, "He's about to start this whole thing up, isn't he…"

"Well…" Pyrrha contemplated, reaching into her mind, "The tale of the Two Brothers, The Shallow Sea, The Girl in the tower…"

"What about the Tale of the Seasons, Ms. Nikos?"

Gabriel inwardly sighed, " _Hook, line and sinker. He's got her attention now."_

"Of course…"

" _Now… story time…"_ Gabriel thought. He glanced out the window, staring at the orange sky. He remembered back to the first night they had spent here when they had joined Ozpin's group.

When he told them about the Maidens.

The Maidens themselves were quite a mystery, confusing the ever-living shit out of all four of them when the story was first heard. The concept of powers passing from one to another was not foreign to them, however. Absorbing psionic power had been documented before, example one being the four members of Alpha, mainly the Temple ship incident and any subsequent killing of Elders. But in the way that it was presented with Maidens, it was quite confusing.

You see, the "Psionic absorption" experienced by Alpha squad wasn't unique, not even in the slightest. After making a kill on a strong enough psionic opponent, a person with a set of activated psionics tends to… drain a small amount of their target's psionics from them. This results in empowerment for the individual who absorbed the psionics.

However, the Maidens were… different wouldn't even be the right word. Heck, Anne had to come up with an entirely new category for this type of power, which she dubbed as "Parasitic."

In essence, a power that falls under Parasitic is attached to a host with an extra "consciousness." This consciousness can exist without a host, however, it can only function and use its power while attached to a host. The "Parasite" will attach itself to the next most suited (or in the case of the Maidens, the last person in the thoughts of the Maiden), and continue the cycle until the host dies and the "Parasite" moves on. If it's next host doesn't meet its criteria, then the "Parasite" moves on again.

"... The four season. My mother loved that story," Pyrrha finished retelling the story, causing Gabriel to snap out of his thoughts and look back over at the Headmaster and the Invisible Girl.

Ozpin laughed, "Would you believe me if I said that the story has been around since I was a boy?"

"Professor, you aren't that old!"

Ozpin's face suddenly became stern, his face hardening, "Would you believe me if I told you it was true?"

Silence drifted on the room as Pyrrha got a nervous look on her face, "I… I beg your pardon?"

"What if I were to tell you that there did exist four maidens in this world, who could wield such tremendous power without Dust."

"You mean like a semblance?"

"Like magic," Gabriel said, from across the room, "Sorta like me. Like Angela. Like Darren and Anne."

"Professor?" Pyrrha looked back at Gabriel, obviously confused.

Qrow was the next to speak, "Yup… first time hearing it can be a doozy. Believe me, I should know."

Pyrrha was astonished, "You've got to be joking… Please tell me you're joking."

Ozpin's face hardened further, "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"No…" Pyrrha meekly replied, "Why… Why are you telling me this?"

Ozpin stole a glance at the two other men in the room, nodding at both in confirmation. He received a nod from both Qrow and Gabriel, signalling for him to continue on.

"We are telling you, Pyrrha Nikos, because we believe that you are the next in line to inherit the Fall Maiden's power."

Pyrrha continued to maintain the astonished look on her face, while also staying quiet nervous in her demeanour, "We, Professor?"

The elevator opened and Gabriel looked over at its contents, Glynda and Ironwood, "Well, your timing is almost impeccable. We were literally just going to talk about you."

Pyrrha turned to Ozpin, fear in her eyes, "What… what is this? What's going on here? Who are you?"

Glynda was the first to speak, "Well Pyrrha, we're still the same Headmasters and professors that you got to know when you first came here."

Qrow continued, "But we have a part-time job."

"We are the protectors of this world."

"And we need your help," Ozpin finished.

"So, Pyrrha," Gabriel asked, "Will you help us?"

Pyrrha couldn't answer, all she did was nod yes. Gabriel smiled and gestured to the elevator "Then let's go. We have a lot to get through and not a lot of time to do it."

* * *

As it was, six people does a crowded elevator make, squishing the group in like a can of sardines, only with a slightly larger amount of breathing room. As the elevator slowly descended to the bottom most floor of the line, tensions ran high. Mainly, Pyrrha was the cause of the anxiety that permeated the air. She was surrounded by two headmasters, two teachers and a huntsman, all of whom believed her to be the next Fall Maiden.

"Um… Professors?" Pyrrha meekly asked, "Where exactly are we going?"

Ozpin looked over to her, "The Vault. Below the school."

The elevator dinged, the door opened and the professors walked out, leaving Pyrrha standing behind, alone. Gabriel looked back, noticing her hesitation, and motioned her to move with the group. Pyrrha complied and walked up to him, the two starting to walk with Glynda as the other members of the group went forward.

Gabriel looked down to Pyrrha. "Scared?" he asked to which she nodded.

"Don't be," Gabriel patted her shoulder with his left hand, "We're right here with you."

Pyrrha smiled, however, concern still lingered in her eyes, "If I may ask, you said I was next in line to receive the Fall Maiden's powers. What do you mean?"

"The Maiden's have existed for thousands of years, Pyrrha," Glynda explained, "And much like the seasons that come and go every year, no to Maidens are ever truly the same."

"When a Maiden dies, the power she had leaves and seeks out a new host. Anne dubbed it a form of Parasitic power if you would," Gabriel continued. Pyrrha obviously didn't like that the power she would receive would be sort of like a parasite and her face reflected it, so Gabriel tried to placate her worries, "Hey, some parasites benefit the host. It's just that the Maiden's power only functions in a host."

"This way, no one holds onto a maiden's power forever," Glynda concluded, a glare shot at Gabriel. He threw his hands up defeated in a sense.

"So… if that's the case, how do the powers choose?"

"Through a series of convoluted, stupid and frankly quite bullshit rules," Qrow interjected.

"Qrow…"

"Don't get mad cause I'm right, Glynda," Qrow smugly replied, "You know I am."

Gabriel sighed, "I'll try to summarize the rules quickly, considering how many of them there are. The first thing that was know was who they went too. Young women, your age, Pyrrha. You could receive the power and keep it for your entire life, so long as you don't die. However, it was later found out that the process by which the powers are passed down was quite a bit more… Glynda, would you call it intimate?"

"Definitely. You see, Pyrrha, as time went on and more was learned about the maidens by keeping close eyes on them, it was discovered that the person last in the thoughts of the Maiden at the time of her death is the first candidate for the power to go to."

"But if the person is a dude or an old hag, that's a no go," Gabriel continued, "At that point, it's just a roll of the dice as to who gets the power."

"In other words, it makes our lives a whole fucking lot harder," Qrow spat.

"Why are you all telling me this now?" Pyrrha nervously asked, "Why not tell me after I've graduated?"

"To put it bluntly, we've run out of time," Qrow replied, "I dunno if you've seen it, but things have gotten a lot scarier out there. Tensions are running high, people are losing faith in their protectors, the Grimm are getting stronger and the stronger ones are getting more common. And if there's one thing we can all agree on here, it's only a matter of time before this oh so lovely peace that we've all been enjoying goes flying headfirst out the window."

Pyrrha was now simply terrified, "You… you're not talking about war, are you?"

"Not a war between nations," Ironwood commented.

"It would be a war for the survival of all peoples of Remnant," Gabriel said, "Fanaus, Human and everything in between would all be in danger."

"We can fill you in on everything once we know you're with us in this," Qrow continued, "For now, all you need to know is that one of the Maidens, Fall to be specific, was attacked, and for the first time in history, a part of her power was stolen."

The group had finally reached their destination. A rudimentary stasis chamber which had nothing on one that the Elders had created. Whereas an Elder stasis pod would've been self-contained and smaller, barely larger than the human it contained, the man-made variety on Remnant was quite a bit larger, requiring an external power source. Also, it was hooked up to a second pod, unlike the Elder's design.

"Who… who's that? Is she the..." Pyrrha nervously asked, pointing to the one inhabited capsule, within which a brown-haired girl with a massive scar on her face resided.

"The current Fall Maiden, yes," Ozpin sighed, "Amber Autumn."

"She's… she's still alive in there, right?"

Gabriel shrugged, "Somewhat. She's alive, but barely. Atlas has done everything that they can to make sure that her heart stays beating, but there's nothing that anyone can do to help her wake up. On top of that, this is new territory, uncharted waters that are deeper and more complex than they seem from the outside."

"Primarily, what happens if and when she passes," Ironwood solemnly continued.

Pyrrha pondered that for a second, "Wouldn't the power just go onto the next host?"

"WELL, WELL, WELL, look who's been listening," Qrow commented sarcastically, before turning to Ozpin and whispering, "You guys were right, she is smart."

"Under normal circumstances, yes, they would," Gabriel explained as he placed a comforting hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, "But these are anything but normal circumstances. From what I've read and what these guys have told us, Maiden's powers don't just split like this. This is the first time in recorded history when they have."

"The most damning thing is the power might just go and seek out its other half," Ironwood continued.

"Her assailant…" Pyrrha muttered.

"And that wouldn't bode well for any of us in any sense of the imagination," Ozpin agreed.

Pyrrha looked down, whether it was a look of sadness or defeatism, no one could reasonably tell. She approached the capsule and placed her hand on the glass separating her from the wounded woman. Her anger welled up inside her, ready to burst. How could these people, whom she trusts with her life, her education and more, do this? How could they hide this away from the world?

"If… if all of this is true… Why keep it a secret?" She began, her voice calm at first, with only a small amount of wavering, "If this… these people are so important, these Maidens are so important, why is this all hidden?"

"If we're truly on the brink of collapse, why doesn't everyone know?!"

Gabriel sighed. Time to go old sage mode again, "We'll answer your questions one at a time, Pyrrha. First, why keep it a secret? According to Ozpin, it wasn't always like that. There were times when people knew about the Maidens, knew that they existed and that they were powerful."

"Where do you think fairy tales come from?" Qrow asked, a swig of alcohol going down the hatch, "Every one of them has a bit of truth that starts the legend. Even the craziest ones come from somewhere."

"Our group was founded in order to protect the Maidens and mankind," Glynda explained, "When the Maiden's existence was common knowledge, people hunted them, sought them out in order to kill them and steal their power for themselves."

"And as you can probably imagine from all the hunting and killing," Gabriel continued, "These people weren't the kind of people you would want with demigod levels of power at their fingertips. And the ones that succeeded?"

"Let's just say they did a LOT of bad things," Qrow continued, "You know that massacre that you learned about with Oobleck? The one in that Vacuo tavern about two hundred years back? That was one of the people who stole a Maiden's powers."

Ironwood nodded, "And so, we chose to remove the Maiden's from the public eye and history, letting them fade into a mere fairytale."

"What we've told you goes against nearly everything you've known," Glynda said, "Hundreds of years of Human history, religion, everything."

"If any of this got out to the public, it would cause an uproar."

"It would cause mass panic," Ozpin corrected Ironwood, "Which is why we…"

"I'll do it."

Ozpin's group went silent in shock. They hadn't been expecting for her to be so easily convinced that doing this would be a good idea. Heck, they weren't even sure if she could have been convinced.

"If it's for the good of humanity and everyone on Remnant, then I will become your Fall Maiden," Pyrrha said again, the rest of the group still in silent shock, "That is what you wanted me to say, right?"

Gabriel was the first person to break the silence, "Well, yes, it is. But Pyrrha, you have to understand, we cannot force you into this role, nore do I ever want you to be forced into this role. You have a choice…"

"And I made my choice, professor," Pyrrha rebutted, "I'll do it."

"You made a spur of the moment decision, Pyrrha. That's not the same as a choice," Gabriel countered.

"And besides, gaining the power isn't going to be as simple as just saying the magic words of agreement," Ozpin interjected, his words calming the red-haired champion, "Because of her condition, inheriting the power naturally is… unfortunately, it is impossible. However, General Ironwood may have a solution to that dilemma."

"You see, for the past few years, Scientists in Atlas have been looking into Aura from a more…" Ironwood paused, contemplating his next words carefully, "Scientific approach. How it works, what its made of, that sort of thing. And, I believe we found a way to capture it."

"Capture it and stuff it into something else, you mean," Qrow interjected, "Or in your case…"

Pyrrha blinked, before the shock set in and she realized what exactly Qrow meant, "That's…"

"Classified."

"Wrong!" Pyrrha said, "How could you think that's okay?!"

"Pyrrha, look at me," Gabriel said, again trying to placate the girl, "No one here thinks that it's even remotely humane, but right now, humane is the least of our concerns. We're fighting for survival. We don't have a choice as to how far we go, we just have to go as far as our enemy pushes, and push they have."

"While we can't directly give Amber's powers to you, we can give you what her powers are tied to."

"Her Aura…" Pyrrha said, coming to that horrifying conclusion on her own. The possibilities were… just as terrifying as the thought of what could practically be considered eating someone's soul.

"Exactly as depressing as it sounds, right?" Gabriel muttered just loud enough for Pyrrha and the rest of the group to hear it, before shifting to a more obvious tone, "We don't know what exactly would happen if you were to have her Aura infused with your own. Anne did some theorizing and couldn't really come to any solid conclusions, but we do know this. After the procedure, you will not be the same person who entered the pod."

"From what Anne mentioned to us," Ozpin continued, "There are three distinct possibilities should the procedure work correctly and Amber's aura becomes one with yours. Firstly, you could enter with no changes whatsoever. Alternatively, you could leave with two people in one mind, both Amber and yourself vying for a sort of control over your body. Finally, you and Amber could merge into a singular being, you getting all her memories and powers and her being able to communicate through them to you."

Ozpin paused, contemplating his next words, "The gravity of the situation is immense, and we all understand that you will need some time to think on the matter. But know this, before the Vytal Festival is over, we will need your answer."

"Our enemy has made their first move," Ozpin finished, "And there's next to nothing to let us know when they will make their next."

* * *

 _Outside the Tower…_

Gabriel walked calmly away from the Tower, a little annoyed with Ozpin. While he did realize the importance of gifting the Maiden's powers to Pyrrha, forcing this onto her was completely unfounded. He hated it, everything about it. But there was little he or any of Alpha could do, other than help Ozpin go through with the process and ensure success.

"Professor!"

Pyrrha's voice called out from behind him, as the girl ran up to him, her red ponytail flying behind her. Gabriel's face brightened a small bit, "Hey Pyrrha, how are you feeling?"

"I… I don't really know how to feel about this. It's all so… foreign," Pyrrha said, "I want to help everyone but… if what you all said was true, I might not be me any more…"

"Pyrrha, look at me, please," Gabriel placed his hand on her shoulder, "I'll be here for you, Angela, Anne, Darren, Oz, Glynda, James. We'll all be here when you need the guidance of any sort."

"Professor… I'm not sure what to do…" Pyrrha continued, "I want to help… but it feels like I don't have a choice."

"Pyrrha…" Gabriel began, "Look, I don't know if there is anything that I can say to make you feel better. But please, believe me when I say that I never wanted this to be your fate, even if the world was at stake. I never wanted to force you into this position. Hell, I never wanted to force anyone into this position."

"But I still want to help!" Pyrrha retorted, "You told me about the truth, you put your trust in me and if I don't help you, I feel like I'm betraying that trust!"

Gabriel shook his head, "You aren't betraying anything, Pyrrha. We made a choice to tell you about them. It's our fault for even bringing you into this fight."

"Professor…"

"Pyrrha, I want you to be happy," Gabriel cut Pyrrha off, "We all do. And if that conflicts with becoming the damn Fall Maiden, so be it. One Maiden gone from our reach isn't a massive deal. Sure, nothing good can come out of it, but we have three others for a reason."

"Even if you don't want to be the Maiden, it's fine. We did give you a choice, after all," Gabriel smiled. Pyrrha began to tear up, and she tackled Gabriel in a deep hug, who was surprised but did return it.

"Professor…" She began, "When I was thirteen, just after I won my first tournament, my mother was diagnosed with cancer. My father and I used every piece of lien we had to get her medicine, and she's been like that ever since."

"I'm… I don't really know what to say to that, Pyrrha…"

"She used to ask me if I believed in destiny, that we've all got a path laid out for us from the beginning, on that we can't change. Professor, do you believe in destiny? Do you think it's my destiny to become the Fall Maiden?"

"That, kid, is one difficult question to answer," Gabriel replied, as he broke the embrace that Pyrrha had on him and gestured to a bench, "Come on, let's sit down."

The two sat and Gabriel asked, "Pyrrha, what does destiny mean to you?"

"Well… my mother always described it as… an unseen hand that guides events," she responded, "A force that guides the future down a set path."

Gabriel sighed and clasped his hands, "Then no, Pyrrha, I don't believe in destiny. You know what's funny about that question that your mother asked you? I was asked the same thing by a mentor of mine when I was your age."

Pyrrha's looked surprised, "Really?"

Gabriel lounged back on the bench, "Yup, good ol' Commander Reyes. He asked me that just after he picked us up from our home town. Guess what he said."

"He didn't…?"

"Exactly," Gabriel nodded, "He said that destiny is not something innate, there is no one singular set path. It's all circumstance and choice that forages our future."

"See Pyrrha, crying out that destiny is the reason something happened isn't a good way to live your life. You'll never take responsibility for your missteps, and you'll refuse to acknowledge your successes. So Pyrrha, lemme ask you this, do you want your destiny to be living life as a Maiden? Or do you want something different for yourself?"

Pyrrha looked down, a tear in her eye, "I… I don't know, Professor…"

"I know you don't, kid, and I would never expect you to figure your life out at your age," Gabriel smiled, "At your age, I sure as hell didn't want to be making decisions that would direct my life down a path I had no idea about. And I know why you have hesitations, you've even told me."

"You mean…"

Gabriel nodded, "Yeah, I know. Jaune. You're worried, aren't you? About losing him."

Pyrrha could only nod, giving Gabriel confirmation of her fear, "Don't worry about that, Pyrrha. We both know Jaune. He's gonna be the type of guy who'll stick through thick and thin with the people he cares about."

"But what if he doesn't? What if things get too hard?"

Gabriel shrugged, "I guess you'll find out. But trust me, Jaune cares about you, more than you think. Your stunt with the dance made him see something he was blind to before. Now, aren't you going up to the next round of the festival?"

"Yes… I am."

"Don't you have to go do something for the final rounds?"

Pyrrha's eyes opened wide with surprise, "Oh… damn it, I'm going to be late, aren't I?"

"Nah, you still have an hour. But we should get going, or else you might be later than you want to be."

* * *

 _The Avenger… The same time…_

When Summer has time to herself, she tends to like to go to her quarters and look over mission reports. Today, however, Summer opted to go down memory lane, pulling out her old white cloak her mother and father made her for her thirteenth birthday.

They had spent the entire year prior to her big day shaping, cutting and embroidering the masterpiece. For the past ten, Summer had not only repaired it, using some spare white cloth (enough to make an entirely new one, if necessary) she had packed with her on that fateful mission, but she had also started making one for Ruby, as was the tradition.

The Rose family was ancient, going back hundreds, possibly thousands, of years and with the years came many a tradition. Every time a member of the family reached four, the parents of the child would make that child a red coloured cloak, which lasts until the person reaches their thirteenth birthday. On that day, the person is given a white coloured cloak, which to their family often symbolizes maturity, coming of age as well as purity. As well, to them, the cloak was to symbolize safety and despite how strange it sounded, Summer's cloak had saved her life more times than she would ever want to admit. Such as the time she used it to kill an Ursa Major by breaking its neck with the fabric.

The embroidery was also a key part of the cloak. There was a very specific design, one very specific pattern that was always made on the cloak's inside. The pattern was a large rose in the center and smaller roses on the outer edges. Summer had gotten her parents to teach her how to actually make the embroidery at a young age, considering it was quite a difficult skill to learn. Not that she was even close to being a master at it like her father, but she was getting there.

 _ **(An: The actual shape of the rose is that of Ruby's symbol, which is a familiar symbol of the Rose family in this story. Secondly, the reason Summer's father is better than her mother simply comes down to the fact that her mother married into the Rose family and her father was born into it, thus he learned the skill at a relatively young age.)**_

Despite the ten years she had put into the cloak, Summer still didn't know if it was up to her standards, which were quite high. Considering that the cloak was overdue by two years, she wanted to make it special, more so than any other present, she had given to Ruby.

She had already gotten the actual cloak's fabric laid out, the design drawn on a sheet of paper, all her materials once again brought out to continue the near decade long project. While the making of the cloak had only begun just under a year ago, the design and everything else dates back for to the time she arrived.

" _Time to start the embroidery… shit, how did I want to do it again…?"_ she thought, " _Hoop, scissors, needle… thread…"_

She looked over to the two types of thread she had on the table, white and red. White or red, which to choose. Ruby would probably be more partial to the red coloured rose, seeing as how she liked the red cloak when Summer made it for her. Also, red was just a pretty colour it also matched Ruby's hair.

Summer picked up the red coloured thread, putting it through the needle's eye. She looked back at her design plan she had drawn out a little over four years ago, looking over the exact position of the main rose and the smaller, secondary roses, of which there were eight. The main rose connected to the smaller roses with a series of thorny vines, which snaked out from the primary rose.

She began by embroidering the outline portion of the rose's shape. Slowly, but definitely surely, the weaving became more natural and the shape of the red rose came into being. It was, if Summer was being completely honest, a gruelling and unforgiving task. Three times, she had to redo at least half of the petals she made, practically having to start over again for every screw up she did.

As she worked, Summer began to hum out a tune that her mother would sing to her and that she sang to Ruby every night. She loved it, and she would often sing herself to sleep with the quiet rhythm of the song.

 _ **(An: The song that I speak of is We All Lift Together, specifically the Freya Catherine version. You don't have to listen to it, but I do enjoy it a lot.)**_

An hour or two passed and she was well on the way to finishing the outline of the large center rose. The shape came together well and overall, Summer thought that the cloak's look and shape made it feel right like it was made to be.

She continued humming away, repeating the song on loop, the ups and downs of the tune intertwining with the movement of the needle and the string. The humming continued on until it became full-blown singing, which lasted for about twenty minutes of intense singing.

Until she heard a knock at her door.

Sighing, Summer put down the needle and thread and called out, "Come in!"

The door opened, revealing Merek Jenkins standing at the door with a smug grin on his face, "Well, Commander. I didn't know you could sing that well. Shoulda asked you to sing my kids to sleep way back when. Annette isn't all that bad, but you're definitely better."

"Well, maybe I could, Merek," Summer smiled, "How's Tisha?"

Merek shrugged, "She's back on her feet and Tygan is helping her get used to the new prosthetic and it's capabilities. But I'll be damned if we had those things the first time around… we wouldn't have lost so many people."

He sat and noticed the cloak, "Making another one? Who's it for?"

"It's for my daughter," Summer replied, "Sort of a tradition in my family."

"So in other words, you can't make me one," Merek laughed, "Darn, it looks cool."

Merek came into the room and pulled up one of the spare chairs, "So, any plans once we get a read on where Alpha is?"

"Find them and bring them home," is all Summer could reply, "You know the plan, Merek, why are you asking?"

"Because I know this means more to you than just a simple search and rescue mission, Commander, that's why," Merek replied, "I know where we're going."

Summer froze and Merek continued, "To an extent, at least."

"To what extent?"

"Well, I may or may not have accidentally walked into the Shadow chamber while it was running some calculations…" Merek slyly scratched the back of his head, "And I may or may not have noticed that it was comparing DNA strands… and I may or may not have been there when it finished and showed the names of the people it was comparing…"

"Get to the point please."

"Fine, fine," Merek relented, "I know Gabriel is your brother."

"Well… Ummm…" Summer muttered, "Well, you aren't wrong. But do you actually know where we are going?"

"Not entirely, no," Merek shrugged, "But I can guess. You wanna go home, dontcha?"

Summer's eyes widened, "I… umm… Don't know what you're talking about, Merek…"

"Don't lie to me, Commander," Merek jokingly remarked, "We both know that would be a complete piece of bullshit, and we both know you're not the kind of person to try to pull that bullshit with me. So spill, what's on your mind?"

"It…" Summer began, before reneging and thinking on her words, "It's been a decade… and I'm sort of worried about what my kid will think, how they'll feel about me coming back."

"They'll probably love you for it, Commander."

Summer sighed, "I hope. But I still wonder how they would feel about getting some new family."

"Cause Angela's pregnant with their kid?"

"There is that, but also the fact that the kids have never actually known that I had a brother," Summer said, "... or the fact that she might hate me for lying."

"Lying?" Merek questioned, "Why would you lie to your kids? Or, even more, what would there be to lie about?"

"Her family," Summer replied, before catching her words, "I've… I've said too much… I'm sorry, but I can't say any more."

"Alrighty Commander, you don't have to tell me anything," Merek complied, "Family secret and all. But there's one thing Tygan wanted me to mention to you."

"And that is?"

"He said testing is done for that weird warp thing," Merek said as he got up, "But he said gathering the resources for a full sized one for The Avenger will take time. Approximately eight to ten months, if we take into account screwups."

Summer smiled softly, "Thank you, Merek."

"Eh, no problem, Commander," Merek returned the gesture, "Just doing my job."

Merek left the room shortly thereafter, closing the door and giving Summer back her privacy. Of all the people she had met here, Merek had to be one of her favourites, discounting everyone in Alpha squad as well as the command structure of X-Com. He was a respectful man, who spoke somewhat eloquently, and who always had respect for those in command.

Major Merek Jenkins was a veteran from Australia, who moved to the USA and enlisted in the military around 8 months prior to the initial invasion. He was promoted to the rank of Captain a week before the actual fighting broke out. Two weeks after the invasion, he was told by his own commanding officer that he would be shifted to another assignment in the Rocky Mountains, which was the old X-Com base location. By the time he got there, Alpha had already been formed and Jenkins had met the younger versions of the squad.

Though inexperienced at the time, Jenkins and Strike-Commander Reyes, along with most of the higher ranking officers that had been enlisted, saw a lot of potential in the group and one of the first missions was the six of them evacuating London after a terror attack took place against the city. Surprisingly, Merek was actually the one who patched Gabriel up after that Chryssalid stabbed his arm, while Anne helped.

After the Temple ship went down, however, Merek took a leave of absence with his lover, Annette Durand, to start a family. Annette herself didn't rejoin the fighting, as she had said she was definitely no fit to actually fight. Her initial recruitment was a very big mistake, after all.

Summer looked at the closed door and smiled once again to herself. It was only a few more days till she would know where home was, and only just under a year till she could get there.

"I've waited this long," she thought, "I can wait a little while longer."

But the nagging in her mind didn't seem to cease. What if she did return home and Ruby did hate her? What if Yang did? She, Taiyang, Qrow, they all lied to the girls in an attempt to keep them as safe as they could be. They promised each other if one of them did leave, and by that, they meant to die, the others would tell the kids the truth.

But honestly, she didn't know if either of them held up on their end of the bargain. In some ways, she hoped they didn't, so Ruby wouldn't feel lied to because she would never know the lie took place. But the truth always comes out, regardless of anything that is done to contain it.

She knew that first hand and her family was a prime example of it.

Maybe Qrow and Tai kept up the lie for the decade she'd been gone, maybe they hadn't. At this point, it was up in the air. All she could do was hope and pray to whatever god existed if one did, that neither of the girls she raised as her own would hate her for lying and breaking their family apart.

Summer looked back at the cloak, the outline of the big red center rose completed. She sighed, folded up the cloak and put her supplies back into the drawer where they were stored. After everything was put away, she got up and left the room.

She needed a drink. Water, wine or otherwise.

* * *

 _The Grimmlands…_

Salem looked over the dark, broken landscape of her eternal home, dotted with pools of dark miasma, energy of a sort. It was where she was reborn, where she became the Queen of the Dark Beasts, where she became the Grimm Witch. It was in these pools where her greatest weapon was reborn. Not her Grimm, but another.

Something much, much worse.

Approximately two decades ago, she found a man, burnt and broken, lying on the ground and on the brink of death. She had thought to kill him, but she sensed within him pain and loss, and a great amount of each.

But most importantly, she saw anger. Rage. Fury.

She took the broken man and walked into the deepest pool of black miasma and submerged him in the dark liquid. When he came out, the man was changed.

Unlike her, when she emerged from the pool of corrupted energy, he didn't emerge nearly as white. Pale to be sure, but not bleached white.

His veins were black, his hair was darker and misty, almost like one of her children when they perished. His skin became similarly misty, the dark energy surrounding him, coating him in a veil of black-purple fog.

The man stayed unconscious for the better part of a week after the Grimm transformation. When he woke from his slumber, he couldn't remember anything about himself. Not his name, his family, nothing from his past.

All he knew was that he would have died if not for the Grimm Witch's intervention and of his own free will, he pledged loyalty to her. Salem had subsequently taken him under her wing, so to speak and taught him of his new power, while he discovered a power that he had apparently had prior to the transformation. He became her most trusted ally, her confidant. In a way, he became her most secretive advisor, her ace in the hole, as it were. He devised the Grimm beetle that would steal the Maiden's power, he trained Cinder in the art of combat.

But still, to all save her, nothing was known of who was behind the mask. No one knew anything except the name Salem had given him all those years ago.

To the rest of her council, the man in the black trench-coat who stood in shadows during most of the meetings was known as Wraith. To them, he was Salem's assassin, her blade. Should she want something dead, it would die.

Salem cruelly grinned as she looked out over her territory. Her plan to destroy humanity was falling in place perfectly. Cinder would execute the plan tomorrow and with it, Vale would fall. Of course, the relic that Beacon held would be difficult to find, Ozpin was too smart to have the relic in the vault under the academy.

" **You miss me?"**

Salem turned around as black mist coalesced into Wraith's form, a six and a half foot tall man. He wore on him a bone white mask, like one of Grimm, which his eyes shone through with a bloody ferocity. He wore a black trench-coat with a hood that covered his dark black hair. Attached on his hips were two sickle blades, wicked sharp and made of deep black metal.

"Of course I did, oh spectre mine," Salem said in a very seductive manner, "I'm assuming your scouting was a success?"

" **Yes, I did, oh queen of mine,"** Wraith spoke, " **The Dragon has almost awakened. We have Vale in our grasp."**

"Oh I know, Wraith," Salem smiled, "Any news on the girl with Silver eyes?"

" **She's still at Beacon, my queen,"** he said, " **Do you wish her dead? Any more of those people could give us trouble in our mission."**

Salem thought about it for a second, her hand on her chin, "I think not, Wraith," she said, "She is young, idealistic. It would serve us better to destroy her ideals one by one. Tear down her world and burn it to ash."

" **Psychological warfare, then,"** Wraith replied, kneeling before Salem, " **I trust your judgement, my queen. Shall I begin?"**

"We won't start yet, Wraith," Salem smirked, "Now, the Atlesian military. What have you learned?"

" **You know. The same brash and impulsive bastards that they always have been,"** Wraith responded, rising to his feet, " **What would you have me do?"**

Salem gave a knowing glance and she spoke only four words, "Shred them to pieces."

" **The General? Do you wish him dead as well?"**

"No. Let him live, but tear his precious fleets apart," Salem smiled, "I want him to know that he is nothing compared to what we are."

" **Of course, oh master mine,"** Wraith replied, " **So this is the endgame you have planned so long for?"**

"And together, oh lover mine," Salem slyly said, "We will rule this world. And all will submit to us."

* * *

 _ **And that's that. I'd like to ask that everyone rates and reviews this story, fave and follow if you really like. PM me if you wanna talk about the story. And please, do go follow Fireteam Nero's re-boot of Remnant of an Iron Rose. I think that Ptabs would like that.**_

 _ **Also, don't expect any updates for July. If I can, I will, but exams exist and that's gonna give me a hell of a hard time.**_

 _ **Anyway, that's me for the day. Hope you have a lovely day. Narsauce out.**_


	11. Falling

**_Sup, it's me, Narsauce, back with another chapter. I know this is longer than anything else I've posted, ever, but I couldn't find a good way to end the chapter until the Dragon did its thing at the end of Episode 10. Despite this, I'm still a little miffed. Part of me thinks that this chapter isn't good enough, but part of me also thinks I need to do something with it or else the whole thing will end up being 20,000 words long, which isn't what I want at all._**

 ** _Also, I wanted to cut it off where I did, otherwise this fucking chapter might've taken me to September to post, which would've killed me._**

 ** _However, on a more positive note, I've already laid out the groundworks for my next story, which will be a continuation of this one. When I'm done this story (However long that may take), I'll post the sequel. And who knows, maybe that will one day also get a sequel. For now, however, I'd like to introduce you to the next chapter of "Strange people from a war-torn world"._**

 ** _I also went back and updated my previous chapters to include the name of Anne's Gremlin, which is Asimov. Thank you XCom 2 modding community._**

 ** _You all know the disclaimer already, so have at it. See you!_**

 ** _And yes, perspective-shifting stuff may make this somewhat confusing._**

* * *

 _Outside team RWBY's dorm…_

Darren groaned loudly as he smacked himself in the face. What the hell was Yang thinking? She'd won the match!

She didn't need to shotgun Mercury's knee into oblivion!

Granted, her semblances is like an angry bull, making it very difficult to control in any sense. But that wasn't an excuse!

Sure, she has anger issues and sure, she loses control sometimes and hell, she was in a stressful situation which could have pushed her over the edge but even at that didn't make much sense. Yang wasn't the kind of person to do this, not without a reason.

After Mercury and Yang's fight finished and the subsequent knee breaking took place, all of Beacon's staff went into overdrive in a desperate attempt to contain and lessen the impact of the situation. They had done all they could, reassured the public that everything was fine and Mercury was being looked after. As well, Yang was also being punished for her actions, namely by being disqualified from the tournament.

That being said, Yang still had to be talked to and Darren elected to go with Ironwood, as to make sure that Ironwood didn't go ballistic on Yang.

Which, surprisingly, he hadn't. Darren had expected the General to be grilling Yang like a steak, but instead, Ironwood was giving her a relatively stern talking to. Much like Darren's own father, in that way.

Ironwood walked out of the room, the two Knights that were guarding the door forming upon him, "Are you going to speak to her, Darren? Now's probably the best time."

Darren nodded, "Better late than never. See you later, Ironwood."

Darren knocked on the closed door of the room, before opening it slightly, "Hey kiddos. How're you feeling?"

"Not very good, Professor Yip," Yang sighed, "No one believes me. Except for my team."

"Well…" Darren shrugged as he closed the door, "You did bust someone's knee into next week. That's probably one reason."

"But I saw him attack me!"

Ruby put her arms on Yang's shoulder, "Professor, Yang would never do something like this! It isn't her fault!"

Darren pulled up one of the chairs and sat down, "I know, believe me, I do. Anne and I were talking about it all night."

"So why didn't you make Ironwood let Yang back into the tournament?!" Weiss aggressively questioned, a slight tone of anger permeating her voice.

"Because it isn't that easy, Weiss," Darren calmly answered back, "Even though we are giving you the benefit of the doubt, the fact still remains that Mercury's knee is broken and Yang broke it."

"But he was going to attack me!" Yang retorted, "I saw…"

"I know you saw him going to attack you, Yang," Darren raised his hand, cutting the brawler off, "And I also know that you wouldn't attack someone unprovoked. You're a good person, Yang and you've got a goddamn heart of gold."

"So why doesn't anyone believe me?"

"Because not everyone knows you the way everyone in this room right now does," Darren pointed to the rest of Team RWBY, "Yang, the issue is that not everyone knows who you actually are as a person. All they know is someones broke someone else's leg, and they know you did it."

"Look, my point is Yang, I know you. You wouldn't attack someone who was down without provocation. Your team knows it too," Darren calmly reassured, "You made a bad decision, you screwed the pooch, so to say. Look, something could've gotten in your head and made you think something was up, but at this point, what you saw and your experience doesn't matter."

"But Professor, Yang said she saw Mercury going to attack her!" Ruby cried, to which Darren merely replied with a shrug.

"Yup, but the jury is out. The people who were watching the fight saw something different from what you did. No amount of us believing you could ever change the public's eye on that matter," Darren sighed, before straightening his back in a more authoritative manner, "Now, if you three wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk to Yang. In private."

"Professor, as the leader of Team RWBY, I think it should be here for this," Ruby defiantly stated, "If it's something to do with Yang, I feel like I should know…"

"Alone, Ruby," Darren cut her off again, "Please. Just let me talk to Yang. One on one."

"But I…"

"Ruby, let's go," Weiss interjected, "There's no point in arguing."

Ruby huffed, "Fine…"

The three other girls got up and left the room, leaving only Darren and Yang sitting down, the latter with tears dropping from her eyes.

"Alright Yang, something's irking you," Darren said, moving his chair forward, "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"Everyone thinks I'm a monster, right?" Yang mumbled, her eyes somewhat tearing up, "Maybe I am."

"Yang, you're not a monster, you made a mistake. Albeit, a stupid mistake, but a mistake nonetheless," Darren reassured, attempting to drag the girl out of her sorrows, "Believe me, we all do."

"But everyone thinks I am…"

"Alright, you know what, Yang? Let's stop talking about this, for now, it isn't helping your mental state," Darren bluntly cut off the blonde brawler, "And when I meant something going on in your head, I meant something I didn't know about, not the leg break incident."

Yang looked at the ground, "My mom."

Darren's face went blank, "And you think I can help you with that… how?"

"Well, you did ask if I had anything on my mind," Yang said, "So that's what's on my mind."

"Great…" Darren muttered to himself, "I could use some backup on this…"

And as if his prayers were answered, Qrow suddenly walked through the door and sighed, "Hey, firecracker."

"Hey, Uncle Qrow…"

"So, why'd ya do it?"

Darren raised his hand and motioned for Qrow to stop, "Qrow, I've already had that talk with Yang. I don't think we need to talk about it anymore."

"Suit yourself, Yip," Qrow shrugged, pulling out his flask and taking a swig, "Y'know Yang, I never took you for the emo one. Always thought that was your dark-haired friend."

"I saw my mom."

Darren cocked his eyebrow, "You saw Raven?"

"You know my mom?" Yang questioned.

"Nope, not even a bit," Darren replied, "Not personally, at least. I do know she's a royal pain, though."

"Royal pain is putting it lightly, Darren," Qrow interjected, "When was it, kiddo?"

Yang hung her head low, "On the train, during that Breach thing with the zombies. I just saw her there. One of the bigger zombies managed to get onto the train and tackled me. No-one was nearby and I got winded, but when I came to, I saw her. I mean, I couldn't see her face, if I recognized the sword, the outfit. The hair."

Qrow chuckled, "Well kid, you ain't crazy. I can say that for certain."

"You mean...?"

"That was your mom, alright," Qrow said, with both a tinge of happiness as well as some sorrow tinged his voice, "Lemme guess, didn't say a word, just stood there, didn't she?"

"How did you…"

"Raven and I don't see eye to eye all that much," Qrow went on, "But she does try to keep in touch every once in a while. Sorta."

"And?"

"She had a message she wanted me to give you," Qrow replied, "Said she would save you this once. No more."

At this point, Darren felt like the awkward third wheel in the conversation. Not only had it completely gone into territory that he had no knowledge of, but it was uncle-niece time. Very important, that time.

"So that was real? Why didn't you tell me?" Yang cried in disbelief that her uncle would keep something like that from her. And now, Darren was feeling much, much more awkward.

Qrow sighed, again taking another drink from his flask, "Why, kiddo? 'Cause I was waiting for the right time… but sometimes you can't wait for the right time 'cause it doesn't exist."

"And now seemed like the best time to give that little bit of information out. Seeing as how you needed a bit of happiness in your life right about now, I thought this was going to be the best chance I had," Qrow continued, "And, for your sake, I also found a bit of extra info out for you."

"And that is?" Yang asked, somewhat excited.

Qrow smugly smiled, "Well, let's just say on my last assignment I got a tip as to her location. Not all that specific, but it's a place to start. So, if you ever wanna go after her, all you gotta do is ask me for a bit of help."

The silence that followed. It was deafening.

Until that is, Yang tackled Qrow in a bear hug, bringing both of them to the ground. Darren could hear the sobs of joy emanating from the blond brawler's throat as she was practically crushing her uncle's rib cage. Through the sobbing, Darren heard Yang mumble, "Thank you… thank you… thank you… Thank you!"

Qrow smiled, though it was easy to tell he was in quite a bit of pain from the rib-crushing he was currently experiencing, "No… problem… firecracker… could you… please stop breaking… my ribs…"

Yang shot up, releasing her uncle, who gasped for air, "Oh shit! Sorry… I didn't actually break anything, did I…?"

"Hah…" Qrow coughed, "Nope, nothing broken… ow… I think."

The room shared a good laugh, as Qrow got himself back to his feet and patted Yang on the top of the head, "Well firecracker, you've got one hell of a grip. I guess you got that from your dad. Now get some rest, you might need it."

"Ok Qrow," Yang said, her mouth curving into a smile, "I will."

Both Darren and Qrow took that as their cue to leave, closing the door ever so softly behind them. As he looked over at the other man, Darren saw a bit of… not resentment, not fear, not hate, but more a look of acceptance, one of happiness.

"Qrow… you look… better…?" Darren commented, hoping to strike up a good and well-meaning conversation with him, "At least, you don't look like you want to gut me, that's a start."

"Gut you?" Qrow remarked, "Look even when you dropped the bomb that you did on me, I didn't want to gut you or Gabriel. Sure, I was a bit skeptical, and sure, I might have overreacted…"

"You did overreact," Darren muttered.

Qrow scratched the back of his head, "But, the thing is, I took some time to think and clear my head of all the bull shit that I had in it and I realized something."

"What?"

"Well… Summer was one of my best friends," Qrow remarked, "Sure, Tai is an amazing guy and we always go out for drinks at the local bar. Raven is just Raven, so even when I do see her, she's distant and very cold. But Summer…"

"She was there for you?" Darren inquired.

Qrow nodded, "Well, yeah, that's definitely one way of putting it."

"Ah," Darren replied, "Makes sense. Were you two ever more than just friends?"

Qrow practically stopped functioning, his eye twitching slightly and his hand shaking somewhat. He looked like he had just seen a ghost, and not an unfamiliar one. A single tear fell from his eye.

Darren quickly took notice and attempted to change the subject of discussion, "I… umm… Whisky! What's your favourite whisky?"

"Not helping, bud," Qrow sadly replied, "You asked if we ever tried to be something more? At one point, yeah."

Qrow paused, gulping down another mouthful of his whisky, "We did."

"I'm sensing a but here," Darren inquired further.

"Massive but, you mean," Qrow sighed, "I was the one who ended the relationship… hell, the relationship never should've begun in the first place."

"Why?"

"Because of my semblance, that why," Qrow replied, "I'm bad luck. That's my semblance, bad luck. Really, really bad luck."

"Oh…" Darren said, his hand on Qrow's back with brotherly understanding, "Soooo…"

"Wo, long story short, I liked Summer but I was scared of myself and what my semblance does to people I care about so I didn't pursue anything," Qrow said, though it was obvious to Darren that he was somewhat bluffing and diverting away from the truth. But Darren decided to not bring anything up, seeing as how he just regained some form of trust with the black reaper.

"Well… umm…" Darren muttered, "I don't really know what to say…"

"Well, maybe tell me a bit more about your adventures with Summer back wherever the hell you guys are from."

Darren put his hand to his chin, "Eh, fuck it, I can tell you one. Just lemme think."

"Alrighty…" Darren rubbed his hands together and laughed a slight bit, "So there was this one time, about a month after we picked her up and Summer was having chronic nightmares. Y'know, waking up in a cold sweat, shivering, muttering, the whole works. And for whatever reason, the only person who could take her out of it was Gabe."

"How'd he do it?" Qrow questioned.

"Just sat there, next to her and let her cry. On his shoulder… for hours," Darren remarked, "He's really good at that, just being storage of other people's emotional trauma. Anyway, after a while of sniffling, she went back to sleep, but the thing is, Gabriel didn't come back to sleep in his bed with Angela."

"And?" Qrow asked inquisitively, "That means what?"

"Well, the morning after that was the day I had to cook meals," Darren continued, "So I get up and what do I see? Gabriel sitting on the damn couch, asleep, with Summer using his goddamn lap as a pillow."

Qrow's eye twitched out of jealousy, "She… what…?"

"It was hilarious. When he woke up, Angela was just sitting across from his just smiling that sort of ' _I know what you did'_ kinda smile. Of course, Gabe being Gabe he was too afraid to move because he might wake up Summer, but he was also terrified of Angela so he sorta had to try had to talk her out of being angry."

"And?"

Darren paused for a second, "Well, Angela got up and lay down on the couch's other side so that both she and Summer were lying on his legs. Let's just say he didn't get up much for that day."

"Summer always was one of those types of people," Qrow commented, smiling to himself a bit, "She likes getting close with people who she trusts. Did the same thing for me in Grimm studies in the fourth year, fell asleep on my lap in the middle of class."

"Now that's a story I wanna hear," Darren laughed.

"Believe me, it wasn't my finest moment," Qrow muttered, "At least Raven thought it wasn't and separated us."

"Why? She wanted Summer on her lap instead?" Darren continued to laugh, "Did Raven have a thing for Summer?"

Qrow shook his head, "None that I know of, but they were good friends. Besides, Rae isn't a lesbian."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty damn sure," Qrow nodded, "I mean, she married Tai…"

"For however long that lasted," Darren teased, "By the way, how long did that last?"

"How long did what last?" Qrow questioned, "Oh. Tai and Rae? A year and a half or so, not too long. Rae had Yang and practically ditched them three months later."

Darren's face got a sad look plastered on it, "Must've been hard for Tai, I guess. Raising a kid all on his own like that."

"Yeah, it was," Qrow took another swig from his flask, "But Summer and I helped out where we could. Hell, we all lived in the same house together, even when they were married, so it was only reasonable for us to help."

"You're right," Darren said, "So how did Tai and Summer get together?"

Qrow stayed silent. Darren quickly realized the sensitive topic, "Umm… alrighty, nevermind. I gotta go anyway, patrolling Vale and whatnot. A massive hoard of Grimm was spotted outside the wall, they want Anne and me to help in case there is a breach."

"Well, I'll just stay here then," Qrow replied, his saddened face somewhat shifting to one of a smile, "Y'know, keep my nieces safe."

Darren nodded and soon the two parted ways, Darren back to the apartment and Qrow to god knows where. As Darren walked away, he couldn't help but think about how hesitant Qrow was to talk about the relationship he and Summer held. He shrugged, continuing his walk to the residences.

* * *

 _With Gabriel and Angela…_

Gabriel lay back on the king-sized bed, looking at the ceiling with a blank, emotionless stare plastering his face. Currently, he was simply relaxing, taking in the sweet smell of the fresh air around him, thinking about the troubles that had occurred over the past few days.

And by the past few days, he meant the events that occurred last night.

Yang breaking Mercury's kneecap caught everyone off guard, from the commentators to the other students to the parents to the military. Why? Because it wasn't like Yang to do. He talked to a number of people after the incident, ranging from some of the people of the other school's teams to headmasters and teachers, each one of them saying that it wasn't like Yang. But that was all thrown out the window because she did break a leg.

He had spent much of the night talking to Emerald, seeing as how she was one of Mercury's teammates. She seemed worried about how he would recover, how the tournament would play out, but surprisingly she wasn't angry at Yang.

" _It was an impulse reaction,"_ she had said, " _I mean, I don't think Yang would have done that without a reason."_

That was the last thing she had time to say before she had to get going for Mistral with Mercury and Cinder. Apparently, they were all going to visit Mercury's parents or some stuff like that. Reasonable thing to do, given the circumstances of the situation.

But the question still remained why? Yang did just break one of her friend's legs, so why exactly was Emerald defending her? Just thinking about the intricacies of the situation gave Gabriel headaches in places that headaches shouldn't exist.

So Gabriel spent the better part of his night in a semi-catatonic state, sleeping off the ills that had plagued his mind. With Angela by his side and a king mattress under his back, he must've slept better than he had in the past twenty years that night. Sleeping soundly had become an issue for him, be it his nature as a light sleeper or the incessant nightmares that he had of people who had died in his arms. Which, come to think of it, was a LOT of people.

But for whatever reason, last night was a good night. No nightmares, not once waking up in a cold sweat, never once waking up to something that went bump in the night.

Gabriel couldn't help but think that this was like that old adage, that this was simply the calm before a devastating storm. He'd seen the reports, heard the stories about the massive amounts of Grimm nearing Vale at alarming rates. He knew this was only the beginning, that this small act of Yang breaking Mercury's leg was somehow just enough to get tensions to rise enough that any more would cause this bubble too ultimately burst under its own pressure.

It was almost too obvious. This was orchestrated by someone, but who? Who did this? While Gabriel could make the assumption of Salem's culpability, seeing as to how obvious her connection was, she would've needed a pawn. Someone who she could work though, who would act as her will. That connection was also just as obvious, given the time he had to think about the situation.

The assailant of the Fall maiden, of course. Which itself limited the field of possible candidates to school-aged women, possibly younger.

But again, the speculating he did accomplish nothing of note.

The alarm on his clock went off, drawing an extended sigh from his mouth out, as he reached over and slammed his hand down on the snooze button. However, he didn't take into account the force of the slam and simply broke the alarm clock in half.

"Damn it," he said as he rubbed his head in frustration. Getting up and stretching, he cracked his back and neck, a satisfying pop released from each.

Gabriel went to pick up his scroll to look at the time, which was approximately 2:30 in the afternoon. Perfect, just an hour before the next fight for the Vytal Festival was scheduled, exactly when he wanted to get back up. He slipped the scroll into his pockets, saw his favourite red shirt lying around and put it on.

"Angela!" he shouted out with a groan, "Do we know who is fighting today?"

"Nope!"

"Did you make anything to eat?" Gabriel called out again.

"Yup!" she called back again, "How's chicken?"

"It's all good," Gabriel replied as he sauntered out to the bedroom, where Angela was sitting down at the table, "How was your night, Angie?'

"Long," she replied, "And too quiet if you know what I mean."

Gabriel nodded and cut off a piece of his chicken, "Yeah, I know what you mean. Not enough weird things happening. It feels like…"

"This is the red sky in the morning," Angela finished, a chunk of her chicken disappearing as she said it, "Yeah, I know."

The two continued to sit in silence, eating their chicken. Forty minutes later, with their chicken finished and other things around the apartment finished, both Gabriel and Angela got up to go down to Amity Colosseum. As the two boarded the bullhead, Gabriel pulled out his scroll once more and noticed something that he seemingly should've seen when he originally opened his scroll twenty minutes earlier.

" _Huh, a message from Emerald,"_ he thought as his scroll's screen lit up, " _Maybe she landed in Mistral already."_

He pressed the playback button and put the phone to his ear. To be honest, Gabriel was expecting something like a simple update on Mercury, but instead, for the first ten seconds of the small message he heard…

Crying?

" _What the…"_ he began to think before the message started to play.

" _Gabriel… please… stop…"_ Emerald's recording said in between sobs, " _Please stop me… I don't want to hurt anyone else… I… I'm a monster… please just end me…"_

" _End her…?"_ Gabriel continued to think as he listened to the message, growing ever concerned for the green-haired girl's mental health, "She's not a monster, what is she talking about?"

" _Please… stop me… I was the one who caused Yang to attack Mercury… It's my semblance… messing… messing with people's heads…"_ Emerald's recording managed to stutter out, " _Please… I don't want to hurt anyone else… she forced me… threatened to kill me if I didn't… please… just end it."_

The voicemail cut out, leaving a stunned Gabriel sitting next to an ever confused Angela, "Ummm… Gabe? Hon? What's going on?"

"We need to double-time it to Amity," Gabriel swiftly replied, "Emerald is in trouble."

Angela became even more visibly confused by her husbands' words, "But Emerald is in Mistral."

"She's still here, I know she is," Gabriel replied in a stern voice, "She trusts us and I won't betray that trust. She's family now, whether she wants to be or not. And I won't abandon family."

"So what's your plan?"

Gabriel looked back at his wife, both their faces riddled with concern, "We have to talk to her, get her thinking straight. She's obviously being forced into doing something she doesn't want to do by someone."

"Ever the father, aren't you," Angela smiled, "I knew you'd come around, eventually."

Gabriel became confused, "To what?"

"Well… I was thinking about how Emerald doesn't have a family," Angela commented as the Bullhead flew its way to Amity, "And… after contemplating it for a while, I thought we could adopt her. If she wants it, of course."

"This really isn't the time for this, you know that right?" Gabriel asked quizzically.

"But it sort of is," Angela retorted, "She needs to know that there are people who genuinely care for her."

"Haven't we already shown that?"

Angela shrugged, "Sort of, but not really to the level that I think adopting her would bring."

"That's just…" Gabriel paused, "Maybe you're right…"

The bullhead pulled into the parking area for the colosseum, both Gabriel and Angela not even bothering to wait for the vehicle to stop moving before throwing themselves out. They were on a mission and absolutely nothing was going to stop them. Both of them were armed to the teeth, Gabriel toting Katana and Arashi while Angela had Darkclaw in its holster on her hip and Darklance in its place on her back. Both the two carried two nanomedikit, just in case something horrible was going to occur, as well as their earpieces, allowing them to contact Darren and Anne at a moment's notice.

They couldn't simply just run to Emerald through the stands, that would set off too many alarms for the people she was forced into servitude with, so they decided on taking a more subtle path

Quickly the two of them turned into the maintenance hallways that encircle the main stadium of Amity, Gabriel blowing through the door in a burst of psionically enhanced speed as they did. The outer ring should give them enough of a direct route to the distressed greenette to make it there in a timely…

But of course, like always, life found a way to make something that should be simple into something very, very difficult.

Mercury.

Standing before the husband and wife were two people, the young red reaper and the grey-silver haired assassin.

"Professors?" Ruby asked in a shrill voice.

Mercury smirked, "So glad you could join us, you two! You're about to witness something great. I mean, after all, Polarity and metal, amiright?"

"Move," Gabriel growled, "I don't care how spectacular of a plan your bitchy benefactor has concocted up, you're threatening people I care about. So git, or I make you."

"Then make me!" Mercury taunted, moving his body into a relaxed fighting stance, "And just so you know I won't go easy on you this time."

Gabriel looked over at Angela, then to Ruby, then back to Mercury before adopting his own fighting stance, "Angie, Ruby, go get Em. I'll deal with the bargain bin Bruce Lee."

The two women nodded and ran past Mercury, leaving Gabriel somewhat confused, "You're not going after them?"

"Why would I?" Mercury retorted, "It's not like Cinder didn't know that Emerald was a traitor, but she was still useful, something that I made sure to remind Cinder. That's why she stuck Neo on her, just as a little bit of insurance."

The two then began circling each other, looking for even the slightest opening in the other's defences to exploit. Mercury, being the cockier combatant, made the first move. Dashing forward in a burst of speed, he chambered his leg for a devastating roundhouse kick, aimed for the skull. On any normal human, the kick's force would have shattered their skull.

But Gabriel was anything but normal.

Instinct kicked in coupled with years of training, gave him just enough time to move out of the way to the side, dodging the kick completely. Gabriel spun on his heel, leaping into the air as he did. With a sharp twist, Gabriel swung his leg around in a heel kick to Mercury's chest. Being over-committed with his own kick, Mercury had little time to dodge and took the concrete shattering blow right to the ribcage.

The kick sent him flying to the wall, however with some agility, Mercury managed to get out of the fall in a backwards roll. Shooting off two rounds from his gun-boots, he propelled himself back up, where he began spinning, wildly shooting dust rounds that began to ricochet off the walls of the hall. Realizing the danger these bouncing bullets could have to his own safety, Gabriel slammed his right fist into the ground, causing a golden glow to erupt from his body, creating a Null Ward surrounding his body, absorbing some of the bullets into the psionic barrier.

Mercury was taken back, "Something new?"

"A good card player never shows their full hand to anyone," Gabriel replied as the Null Ward quickly wore off once its job of absorbing bullets was complete.

Quickly, the two engaged again, Mercury still throwing out kicks left, right and center, occasionally catching Gabriel off guard and throwing him back. But for each kick Mercury landed, Gabriel responded with a strike of his own, each one with more force and emotion behind it than the last, each one causing a minor shockwave to ripple through the air. From elbow strikes to the face or the kidney and sucker punches, Gabriel held nothing back. Then again, neither did Mercury, who utilized every facet of his skills in order to keep up the older and more skilled man.

As Mercury went for an axe kick to Gabriel's head, the man decided to do something devious and something that would result in a lot of pain. As the leg was falling down to its intended target, Gabriel side-stepped, catching Mercury off guard. In a momentary lapse of focus, Gabriel grabbed the cybernetic leg and threw his assailant face-first into the pavement, practically shattering it with the assassin's head. As he bounced up from the concrete floor, Gabriel struck him with his palm and sent him flying into the wall, shattering it as well.

And yet, despite the destruction that just occurred because of the reckless abandon Gabriel had thrown his body around with, Mercury still managed to stand up.

"Ow," Mercury said, "That really hurt. I guess you really were holding back when Emerald and I fought you in class."

"I'm not being a teacher anymore," Gabriel snarkily quipped back.

With that, Gabriel finally drew Katana, tired and bored of the little brawl he and Mercury were having. While Gabriel didn't want Mercury dead, he would do what he must, even if it meant maiming the boy even more than Yang did. He would save Emerald. No matter what.

* * *

 _With Angela and Ruby…_

Angela sprinted, nearly as fast as Ruby with her semblance going at full throttle. The two had barely started running before they heard the crash of Gabriel and Mercury's fight beginning. The sickening sound of Gabriel kicking his target in the ribs was heard from where they were, as was the bullets being let loose by Merc's gun-boots. Not that Angela cared, she knew Gabriel would be fine. After his nearly ten year rivalry with the Chosen Assassin, (Yes, the Chosen Assassin considered him an equal in sword combat and was one of the few targets who she would willingly abandon her hit and run tactics for a chance at killing one to one. She did come close, a few times.) Angela was sure that Gabriel could handle anything.

Her belief was again confirmed, as the ground shaking blows delivered by the two combatants continued to rain down on each other. Ruby was obviously shaken, both because of the intense force behind each blow and from the sheer amount of violence being displayed by Gabriel.

"Is… is he going to be okay?" Ruby asked nervously, "Gabriel, I mean. Will he be okay?"

"He'll be fine, Ruby," Angela said in a somewhat motherly voice, "Right now, I'm more worried about Emerald."

"But Emerald is the one causing all of this!"

"But she's under duress," Angela replied, the two rounding a corner, "She doesn't have a choice, she could die."

Ruby looked down, obviously saddened, "Oh… that must suck…"

"Yeah, it must," Angela replied, "Besides, we're here."

With that, both Angela and Ruby arrived at the area just before where Emerald was seated. But just as they got there, Angela felt something coming at her and Ruby from behind. She pushed Ruby out of the way, drawing Darkclaw and firing three shots off at the assailant. A pink umbrella practically materialized, deflecting two of the shots away, with the final shot being off to its side, grazing the arm of its wielder.

The assailant, a short girl with pink and brown Dichromatic eyes and similarly coloured hair, stood up, smirking in the most ass-kissie of ways. The girl had an umbrella, pink and frilly by the looks of it.

"And who… the hell…" Angela muttered, "Are you?"

The girl didn't reply, rather she twirled her umbrella around and dropped her stance, obviously ready for the fight that would surely come soon. Angela stood ready, opposite the girl, Darkclaw drawn and ready to fire again. With lightning-fast reflexes, Angela fired off two shots, one aimed at the girl's center of mass, the other at her hand. In response, the girl swung her umbrella, connecting with the first of the two shots but missing the second one, which grazed her right hand slightly, causing her to wince in pain. Angered, the girl lunged forward again, swinging her umbrella in a downwards arch. Angela fired again, hitting the girl square in the chest…

Only she shattered into glass.

Dodging again to the side, Angela narrowly avoided the downward arching slash from her assailant, who's umbrella left a devastating mark on the concrete floor. In response, Angela stomped her foot to the floor, pinning the umbrella to the ground.

"Ruby!" Angela called out as she elbowed her assailant in the face, "Go get Emerald!"

Ruby nodded and dashed off, leaving the other two continuing their struggle and battle. The multicoloured girl cradled her now bloodied nose, once again growling in anger and twirling her umbrella in a very, very artistic style, using the open umbrella to whack Angela in the chest, sending the red-head tumbling back. However, Angela rolled out of the fall, holstering Darkclaw and bringing out Darklance, lining up a single, high powered shot, aimed at the assailant's center of mass.

Time seemed to slow as Angela pulled the trigger, the energy-bolt releasing from the chamber and flying forth. The ice-cream girl dodged, but it was too little, and much too late, the bolt connecting and flying through the right side of her gut. Of course, it didn't kill her, but it did punch a nice crabapple sized hole through the side of her gut. Wailing in pain, the girl fell to the ground, clutching her now bloodied side, looking up at Angela in disdain and hate.

"One chance," Angela stated, raising Darklance once more and levelling it to the multi-coloured girl's head, "Either leave or I paint the walls with whatever's inside your head."

The girl didn't reply, but her actions spoke as loud as any word ever could. Simply, she got up and began limping away from, as fast as her wounded body could allow. Angela felt some remorse for the girl and unhooked her medikit from her belt and shouted, "Catch!"

The girl looked back, saw the small object flying at her at a relatively slow speed and caught it with her uninjured hand. She looked at it, then at Angela, and smiled, before continuing to hobble off into the distance.

Angela smiled, but the smile was short-lived, as she heard both the screech of Ruby and Emerald rip through the air like knives.

* * *

 _With Ruby…_

"Ruby!" Angela yelled, "Go get Emerald!"

Ruby nodded, dashing off to the stands area, quickly pushing aside the door to the seating area. She looked around, looking for her target.

" _Ohhh… where is she…"_ Ruby thought to herself as she frantically looked around, desperately eyeing for the green-haired girl, " _She has to be around here, I swear I saw her he… THERE!"_

Sitting only a few levels up, Ruby saw Emerald, with some small tears streaking down her closed eyes as she shivered in fear. No one seemed to pay her any mind, it's not like anyone around seemed to care at all about her deranged mental state. Then again, Neo was probably to blame for it, the ice-cream-puff seemed to project an aura of terror surrounding her in a way few people could compete with.

Ruby steeled her mind and rushed up the stairs, only looking out to the center of the Coliseum once, where she saw Pyrrha looking on at Penny in fear. Looking back to Emerald, Ruby saw her crying, even more, choking out coughs. With a burst of speed courtesy of her semblance, Ruby managed to close the distance between herself and Emerald, wrapping the greenette in a tight bearhug.

Emerald looked down in a surprise shock, time seemed to slow for the pair, "Ruby…?"

"Emerald, it's okay!" Ruby pleaded, "Gabriel and Angela are here! I'm here, you're safe! Just please stop it!"

"I… I…" Emerald didn't know what to say. Try as she might, Emerald couldn't form any coherent sentences, aside from babbling, "Am… I?"

"Yes, please stop whatever you're doing!" Ruby begged.

Emerald seemed to hear the red Reaper's pleas, but there was only so much she could do. She tried to redirect Pyrrha's mind from the illusion that she had made earlier, but with little luck. The least she could do was make the end result slightly less painful for everyone involved.

Despite her obvious attempts at remedying the situation of her own creation, Emerald couldn't stop what had happened, the monster she had unleashed onto the world. Pyrrha obviously was straining to reel back her semblance, but it only did so much. The polar wave she unleashed caught Penny's blades mid-flight, sending them careening backwards, the wires and strings attached to the robot girl twisting in strange ways.

Pyrrha tried, pulling back against her own semblance's power and fury, to save Penny. But again, her attempts were too little and much, much too late. The wires were pulled, the metal bent…

Until finally, it broke.

In what seemed like a clap of thunder, one of Penny's arms was torn from her body, her legs cut cleanly at the knees. A loud thud followed as Penny's body fell to the floor, no longer able to support its own weight.

The audience was silent…

Until Ruby and Emerald cried out in anguish. One for the friend she might have just lost, the other for the guilt of committing the atrocity.

* * *

 _With Gabriel… moments earlier…_

Gabriel had been fighting Mercury now for only five-ish minutes and despite the fact that Mercury was now bloodied and bruised almost beyond recognition, the boy was still fighting with everything he had. But despite his valiant attempts to defeat Gabriel, nothing had come of it.

Dozens of relatively minor wounds that would later become scars littered Mercury's once handsome visage, as Gabriel nimbly danced with Katana, using the Chosen blade to slash away at both Mercury's resolve and his body. But then he heard something that struck him down to his core.

The scream of Emerald and Ruby tore him apart. Mercury took note of the pause and leapt forward intent on finishing this with one last bone-crushing kick to the face. But Gabriel had different plans for how the duel would finish. As the sidekick Mercury was performing drew closer, Gabriel moved off to the side and in a burst of rage, lopped off Mercury's prosthetic left leg, the one he was standing on, at the knee.

Mercury tumbled off into the distance, with this now removed leg tumbling off after him and landing nearly beside his body. As Mercury struggled to get back on his feet, Gabriel walked up to him, grabbing the back of his neck and hoisting him into the air.

Calmly, Gabriel asked one simple question, "What's her game?"

Mercury laughed, "Isn't it obvious? She wants the maiden's powers and she wants Ozpin little group gone. Isn't that easy enough to see?"

"But that's not all, is it?" Gabriel bit back, "Cinder wants something else from this, what is it?"

"How should I know?" Mercury shrugged innocently until Gabriel started squeezing his neck harder, "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! I'll TELL YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW, JUST PUT ME DOWN!"

Gabriel complied, dropping Mercury right onto the floor with a loud thud. Mercury coughed before beginning to speak once again, "She wants people to lose faith in the Hunters. All of them. Most importantly Ozpin and the other headmasters. She wants the people of the kingdom to fight her battles for her because the Grimm will come and clean up the mess afterwards."

"Is that all?" Gabriel questioned.

"That's all I know, I swear!" Mercury pleaded, "Please, just let me leave. I'll never be in your hair again, I promise!"

"Fine," Gabriel grunted, "But I don't want to see your sorry face ever again, do you understand?" Mercury nodded, "And if I do, those scars I gave you just now will be the least of your concerns."

Mercury quickly got up and he began to hobble off into the distance, shutting the door behind him as he went. Gabriel dashed off, in the direction that Angela and Ruby went to reach Emerald. He didn't care about anything else other than their safety, anything else was secondary. He ran until he saw one of the access tunnels to the stadium, where he ran out into the middle of the field, seeing a stunned and heartbroken Pyrrha, shaking as she had fallen to her knees at the body of Penny.

As he ran out, he heard a voice start to speak over the announcement system, Saying only a few words to begin, " _ **This is not a tragedy."**_

" _ **This is not an accident."**_

" _Damn it, Cinder,"_ Gabriel thought in anger, " _Couldn't have waited any fucking longer to give your villain monologue?"_

" _ **This is what happens when you hand over your trust and your children, to people who claim to be our guardians but are, in reality, nothing more than men,"**_ Cinder continued. At this point, Gabriel was scowling, his anger showing outwards.

"Anne," he said, his earpiece activated, "You getting this?"

" _Mmhmm…"_ Anne replied over comms, " _Everyone in fucking Vale is. I'm working on countering the signal, but there's only so much I can do."_

Gabriel paused, only to speak back up, "Tie me into the broadcast."

" _What?"_

"Cinder needs to know we're coming for her," Gabriel replied, "And the people of Vale need to know they do have guardians, ones than can be trusted."

" _You mean, unlike Ozpin? We've trusted him so far."_

"Well no one is going to trust him after this shitshow," Gabriel replied, "How far along are you with the hack?"

" _Good so far,"_ Anne replied, " _Darren and I received reports of masses of Grimm en route to the city. I'm hacking the broadcast as we're moving to check it out with Alec and some of those deserting White Fang guys from the Breach, so it might take me another few seconds."_

"Seconds?" Gabriel questioned, "That's fast, even for you."

" _I was already trying to shut down the broadcast before you called us, I just had to divert attention to connecting you into it,"_ Anne replied, " _Five-ish seconds."_

" _ **First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honour and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither,"**_ Cinder continued on her tirade, obviously aiming her insults at Ozpin.

" _IN!"_ Anne declared abruptly, " _Anything you wanna say, say it now!"_

" _Gladly…"_ Gabriel thought as he smirked.

" _ **That's rich, coming from you, Cinder Fall!"**_ Gabriel said, his earpiece now broadcasting on the same channel as Cinder's scroll, obviously surprising her as she heard the voice blared out of her scroll. Similarly, most of the rest of Vale was also in shock.

" _ **Such wise words of mercy and honour, coming from a MURDERER!"**_ Now Cinder was truly shocked. He knew?

" _ **What was her name? Amber. Autumn."**_ Gabriel continued, striding towards the center of the arena, " _ **And what did you do? You left her on death's doorstep. So for you to sit and preach moral superiority over someone else is both hypocritical and foolish!"**_

" **WHO DARES!"** Cinder roared, her voice causing most people in Vale to have their ears start ringing.

" _ **I do,"**_ Gabriel replied in kind, " _ **You want to know who I am, Cinder Fall? My name is Colonel Gabriel Owen of XCOM, the first, best and the last line of defence humanity ever had. And I am not the only one who stands against."**_

Gabriel got to the center of the arena, staring defiantly at all the cameras, knowing that everyone in Vale could see him now as he gestured to the stands, " _ **My allies still stand by me, o Maiden mine. But to you, I ask this. When the time comes, when the Grimm-tide sweeps across Vale and when the world may very well burn to ash…"**_

" _ **Who will be left to stand with you?"**_

The entire stadium was left silent, in pure awe of the man who had just challenged the woman who was only a few minutes earlier ripping into the headmaster of the academies. But quickly that silence was broken, and it was replaced by a terrifying scream and a hollow screech from above.

" **Warning. Incoming Grimm attack, Threat level 9. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly fashion,"** the automated voice of the stadium stated. However, none of the occupants of the stands did even remotely as they were asked, screaming and running for the hills. Then all hell broke loose.

A massive Nevermore had arrived, landing on the barrier that formed the Colosseum's roof.

The bird shook the entirety of flying construct, cawing loudly, flapping its wings and smashing its head into the barrier in an attempt to break it open like an acorn. Gabriel looked up, as the hunters in training gathered around him. Angela and Emerald were also there, joining up with the group in the center of the stadium.

"Prof, what are we going to do?" Sun, the monkey boy asked nervously, "We don't have our weapons!"

"When that over-inflated turkey busts the barrier, call your lockers in," Gabriel said, "I'll deal with it. Once you have your weapons, help with evac."

"And us?" Angela questioned, gesturing to herself and Emerald.

Gabriel looked down at Penny, the unmoving corpse, and picked it up, handing it off to Angela, "Take her to Ironwood. Her memory core isn't damaged, so I think she can be rebuilt."

"Roger that," Angela smirked, before a worried look came onto her face, "WATCH OUT!"

The Nevermore slammed it's head into the barrier again, shattering it completely. It began soaring down to the group, claws outstretched, maw gaping. Gabriel sized up the bird, took a deep breath and stepped forward. His entire body began to glow with golden light as before him condensed a ball of golden psionic energy. He slowly began to float upwards, just slightly off the ground, a foot above it at most. Then he spoke, but it wasn't how he normally sounded. It was like a million people speaking through one mouth, the echoing of each voice in perfect dissonance with every other. **(An: In other words, think Kerrigan from Starcraft)**

" **YOU…"**

" **DO NOT…"**

" **BELONG…"**

" **HERE!"**

With the final defiant shout, Gabriel unleashed the massive Psionic buildup in the form of a Null Lance, which cut right through the Nevermore, neatly making a hole right through its face and most of the rest of its body. Gabriel came back down to the floor, psionic energy in the form of golden coloured lightning arcing around him. He looked back up, seeing more Grimm on Amity's side walls screeching in rage at their comrade's death. Gabriel turned back to the rest of the group that was currently congregating behind him.

" **Get your weapons and go, I'll hold them off,"** he said, his voice still somewhat distorted. His body was also still glowing gold in anger, another pair of orbs forming in his hands as winds around him picked up speed.

Almost as soon as he said that several dozen rocket lockers descended from the sky, touching down in front of the students. They all pulled their weapons out of the lockers, readying themselves for a fight.

" **WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAY!"** Gabriel's voice boomed, " **Go and help with the goddamn evacuation. I'll keep the Grimm focused on me as long as I can."**

The students squealed and nodded, taking off to the docking area of Amity, Angela leading them along with Emerald and Ruby at her side. Pyrrha was moving slightly slower than usual, but seeing as she most likely felt responsible for what occurred to Penny today, it was only natural. Gabriel turned his attention to the oncoming tide of Grimm, drawing Arashi from its holster on his back, pumping the weapons once. He aimed at the nearest Grimm that was flying towards him, a sort of hybrid creature that looked like a Gryphon, and pulled the trigger, blasting a hole through its head. A second Grimm came flying at him, attempting to body check him and pin him to the ground, but Gabriel backflipped over it, shooting it twice in the back.

Looking up again, he saw at least forty Grimm surrounding him. He condensed more psionic power into his hand, the power flowing through him like a conduit, the deadly bolts of lightning streaking through the air around him as the wind picked up speed. He raised his fist to the sky, shouting defiantly, as distorted objects began to appear in the sky above him. He had triggered a Soul Storm

 **(An: For anyone who is curious, both the abilities Soul Storm and Null ward come from a mod to XCom 2 known as "[WOTC] More Psi Abilities" on the Steam workshop. Soul storm is an AOE nuke that summons explosive psionic meteors that destroy cover and deal a lot of damage, whereas Null Ward is literally just a friendly version of the Advent Shield bearers main ability.)**

The sky darkened as the balls of condensed psionic energy fell from the sky, each seeking their target, marking them for destruction. The Gryphon like Grimm shrieked and tried to flee, but their attempts proved useless, as the meteors impacted them at comically fast speeds and obliterated the targeted Grimm. Gabriel dropped to one knee, panting slightly, for a Soul Storm wasn't something to be used all the time. It required concentration, practice and a lot of energy to perform. Again, he looked back to the sky, as it darkened with more Grimm, all of differing sizes and shapes.

And he grinned.

He hadn't had this much fun in a long, long time.

* * *

 _With Anne and Darren…_

"I am having such a good time right now!"

"Darren, not the time!"

Darren sighed, finger still firmly pressed on the trigger of Ragnarok, still spewing round after continuous round into the oncoming Grimm hoard. Anne was at his side, tending to one of the Fang deserters who had gotten injured from a large Ursa. He, Anne and the seventy-ish former White Fang members had taken it upon themselves to defend one of the weakest points into the city, taking up positions in buildings, behind barricades, on roofs, everywhere. They had a slow advance up until that point, what with having to push the Grimm back, but now they were tightly dug in, firing on the ever-advancing Grimm-tide.

"What the hell is Atlas doing up there!?" Darren shouted, "They should've come down by now!"

"Hell if I know!" Alec replied in kind, spearing a Beowulf on the bayonet of his rifle, "They're probably dealing with some…"

Just as he was about to finish what he was saying, one of the Atlesian cruisers came falling out of the sky, crashing nearby, levelling a few blocks of housing as it went.

"Other issue…" Alec finished, dumbfounded, "Such as falling from the sky…"

"Sir, I can take ten of our troops to search for survivors," Terra said as she unloaded into an Ursa, "It would probably be for the best if we went and tried to get more people to help us."

Alec nodded and Terra shot up, reloading her rifle, "Alright, you ten, on me! We're looking for survivors in the cruiser!"

The ten Terra pointed to quickly stood up in a similar manner to their commanding officer, rushing off after the monkey-girl to the steaming wreck.

Anne, who had by this point finished patching up the wounded soldier's leg, returned to firing on the advancing Grimm with the Disruptor Rifle. Asimov had begun to run tactical at Anne's behest, uploading estimates and heat signatures of Grimm, as well as news reports and data from military channels, creating a detailed map view of how royally fucked Vale currently was.

And boy howdy, was it fucked.

Not only were there a good number of Grimm currently inside the city but Vale itself was mostly surrounded. While there were very few breakpoints and some other seasoned Hunters were mopping up the remains of the Grimm in the city, anything getting through this breach in the wall would be devastating.

Not that Darren or Anne gave a damn how screwed Asimov said Vale was, they would still fight here, they would still hold. After all, numbers were a thing they had to deal with before, and sometimes there were even greater odds stacked against them. Yet time after time, they had almost always triumphed… or at least they lived to tell the tale.

As more and more Grimm poured through the hole in the wall, the two Psions started to utilize their more powerful psionic abilities, starting to send Null Lances and shocking volts of psionic lightning flying left, right and center, while creating Void Rifts and Null Wards at almost every opportunity. When they got too close, Darren would holster Ragnarok and simply pumble any offending Grimm until they're nothing more than a fine Grimm paste. Others tried to challenge him, but Darren stood strong, defiant as he crushed the skulls of the advancing monsters.

And he laughed.

He plucked a Beowulf out of the air and used the thing as a bat to crush some other advancing Grimm. He turned a Deathstalker into a literal bowling ball and a large swarm of bowling pins for his destructive pleasure. He teleported onto a Nevermore and snapped its neck, before teleporting back to the main lines as the now-dead Nevermore crashed into its allies.

And he kept laughing.

Darren straight-up broke a hole through an Ursa with a psionically infused punch. He ripped a King Taijitu in half with his bare hands, his psionics powering him through it all, enhancing his strength, reflexes, durability, everything.

Of course, he wasn't the only one having some semblance of fun. Anne was having her fair share as well, her body glowing an infernal red as she smashed wave upon wave of Grimm against unrelenting psionic force. Red coloured Null lances and Void rifts, along with storms of psionic lightning, commonly referred to as Ionic Storms, summoned by her, ripping through each and every unfortunate Grimm to get caught in one.

The battle continued, with more and more psionic fury being laid down upon the ever-advancing tide of Grimm. Terra and the ten she went with to investigate the downed cruiser had returned, bringing with them around twenty to thirty crew members, wounds ranging from mild to exceptionally severe. Some of the crew and the Faunus were helping the more severely injured in moving away from the downed cruiser, while others, the more mildly injured people had picked up guns on their exit and were firing back at the Grimm.

"Terra! Is that all of them!?" Alec called out.

Terra nodded, obviously shaken from the horror she had witnessed inside, "Most of the armed guards were dead, only the crew was left, tied up in the control station! They're all that's left!"

"What the hell broke into a fucking Atlesian Crusier and killed everyone there?!" Darren questioned, "It couldn't have been a Grimm!"

"I don't think it was, sir!" Terra replied as the more injured of the crew members were laid on the ground, Anne stopping her psionic onslaught to help heal the wounded, "When I asked one of the comms officers, he said a man attacked them! Unfortunately, there's no security footage left, it was all wiped!"

Anne rolled her eyes, "Of course, the footage had to be wiped…"

"But the thing is, whoever attacked them might have been a person, but he must've fought like a Grimm. I saw multiple people missing limbs, heads, faces… Even one of them had his heart ripped right out of his goddamn chest!" Terra continued, as she and a few other medical specialists got to helping Anne with the wounded.

Anne looked down at one of the Atlesian crew members, an orange-haired man who had a large piece of metal lodged through his upper arm, "What exactly attacked you in there?"

"I… I don't know, ma'am," the man weakly replied, "It looked… like a man, spoke in a weird… distorted voice..." the person violently coughed, splattering blood on Anne's face, "Sorry.."

"No need to apologize," Anne smiled, as she wiped the blood off her face, "Now, you were saying?"

"He fought with… two sickles… made of this black metal… it cut through every… everything…" The man continued, "People, doors… it didn't seem like it mattered to him… And he was just too strong for us… Cooper tried to charge him… but all that did was get him killed…"

The man looked off into the distance at the fallen cruiser, "He… cut… Coop right open… Coop was my best friend… and… and now he's dead… That bastard bled him like a pig!"

"Calm down, sir, it's not going to help you if you overreact. Higher blood pressure will do you no good," Anne said, "Now sir, I'm just going to put you in stasis for a short time so I don't hurt you while I take out that metal, okay?"

"Wha… What?" the man asked, before Anne placed the stasis field around him, letting her safely remove the piece of metal. The man was frozen in time, completely unable to move or do anything, for that matter.

"Welp, at least this can't get any worse than it already is!" Darren jokingly shouted as he threw a Griffon at a smaller Nevermore.

"DARREN! STOP THAT!"

* * *

 _Wraith…_

Kill… that was Salem's wish, to destroy as much of the Atlesian fleet as possible, to kill as many as he could, to spread terror among their ranks.

Wraith enjoyed it. He revelled in it, loved every second that he spilled another Atlesian soldier's blood across the floor. Every moment that entrails dropped onto the floor was one he would remember for years and years to come.

Wraith slowly and ominously walked through the prison ward of the Atlesian command airship, his sickle blades tapping against the sides of the walls. Most of the cells were open, indicating that there were either no prisoners or any that were there had since been removed. However, that didn't mean there weren't many people down here. Quite the contrary, actually. He'd killed at least fifteen guards along the way, bisecting two of them at the waist, another three from their crotches to their heads, others simply losing their heads to his sickle blades. Aura or not, they all fell to him, his twin blades cutting clean through it with no issue.

As he continued down the hallway, he noticed one of the cells still closed, a sure-fire sign that it still housed a prisoner, one who wasn't all that scared of what was currently going on, despite the fact that a good portion of everyone on the ship was currently dead. Regardless, it didn't matter, the person in the cell would die.

So Wraith slashed through the cell door, cutting it clean open in an X-shaped slice, the door falling inwards with a kick.

"Well, well, well…" the person on the inside muttered, "That took you long enough, Neo. I'm assuming we're still doing what Cinder told us to… Wait a second."

" **What…"**

"Well, either Neo grew by a few feet, became a man, and a massive edge-lord since I in the short time since I got arrested or…" the prisoner playfully muttered, "Or you're not Neo."

" **You got it right,"** Wraith replied, his voice like nails on a chalkboard, " **I ain't this Neo kid."**

"So in that case, why are you here?"

" **To kill things, that's what,"** Wraith replied.

The man in the cell nodded, slightly shaking in his seat, "And you… are going to kill me? I'm useful, I know the codes to override the Atlesian Knights!"

" **That's nice. I don't care,"** Wraith replied, " **I also know them. So I'm just cutting out the middleman."**

"Did… did you just make a joke?" the man replied, "I… I didn't like that joke."

" **You don't have to,"** Wraith calmly replied, slashing across the man's stomach. The man screamed as the blade cut right through his aura like a white-hot knife through soft butter, " **You'll be too dead to care."**

The man's entrails began to spill out of his now open wound, as he tried with one arm to scoop them back into the hole. He began panting, frantically crying out for help, but Wraith didn't care. It was fun to watch him squirm, to watch him squeal like a pig.

As life faded from the man's eyes, Wraith thought of something that the man's body could be used for, since everything else about him was useless. So he picked the now lifeless body up from its seat and began the walk to the control room of the cruiser. He met some guards along the way, but those posed no threat to him as he dispatched them all with cold, cruel efficiency.

It also just so happened that the cruiser was in total lockdown at this point, which meant that the bridge was locked. Not like it mattered, Wraith had many options for breaking down the door. Namely, a dozen or so bodies that could serve as a… battering ram of sorts.

Picking up one of the many dismembered Atlesian bodies, Wraith threw it with all his might against the door, indenting it severely, bending the hardened metal to the imprint of the corpse. But the body didn't fare too well from its sudden contact with the door, as it practically exploded on contact. Not like it mattered, as another body came flying at the door, again causing the metal to become malformed and bent.

Finally, the door snapped, caving inwards to reveal the command deck and a horrified crew, one of whom was crushed to death by the caving in of the door and the limp guard's body that came flying through it. Wraith grinned under his mask, his twin sickle blades ready to become wet from the blood of those he would soon find dead at his feet. It was fun for him, to see the terror in the eyes of his victims, to feel their fear, to drain their soul and feel it coursing through his veins.

It was one of the many things Salem had taught him, one of the many things they both found great pleasure in doing together.

Wraith had often been considered Salem's primary enforcer of her will, by both himself and by the Witch. He was the first to learn of her plans, the first to give critiques and ideas and more often than not, the first to draw the blood of her enemies, as he was now doing.

If Salem was like a Field Marshal Grimm, Wraith would be the second in command, a general of sorts. The Grimm listened to him as they did the Witch, they followed his commands and demands as if they were hers. And because of that, those Grimm that lived in Mount Glenn followed his commands and attacked Vale en masse. But there was still more to be done.

Wraith's ultimate goal with this slaughter was to awaken an ancient Grimm that lay below Mount Glenn, a Wyvern and a great asset for his and his mistress in the coming war. Awakening it would only serve to benefit them in both the short and the long run.

A crew member on the bridge tried to make a desperate escape from Wraith, trying to run out of the command deck. Wraith simply threw his sickle-blades, impacting the bridge-member in the base of the skull and piercing right through it, the tip coming out the front of the now-dead person's mouth.

Another tried to charge at him and Wraith decided that he should put the dead prisoner's body to use like he said he would. Grabbing the man's leg, he swung the corpse around, bashing into the charging Atlesian soldier's sternum and sending him flying into a console. Taking the body again, he raised it high above his head and swung. The prisoner's corpse crushed the soldier, the sickening crunch of bones pleasing Wraith immensely.

As the last of the crew members fell down, dead or slowly dying, Wraith went over to the main terminal, inputting the codes to the Atlesian knight overrides.

" _This will be fun,"_ he thought as he pressed the last key to the override code.

* * *

 _Angela, a twenty minutes earlier…_

Angela growled as she and the other hunters in training continued to hold a defensive position around Amity's visitor loading area. Since Ironwood left in a hurry with Penny's memory core, many more Grimm, several dozen totalling to maybe 100 or more had been unleashed into the colosseum and had begun to wreak havoc. Luckily, the Grimm seemed to be fixated on the defenders and not the screaming masses of people that were running from them. Which was all well and good, seeing as how no civilians would die as a result, now there was the issue of civilians restricting their firing arcs.

Shots rang out from Darklance, ripping through the air and turning Grimm to mush upon impact. Every single time she pulled the trigger, Angela added another decaying Grimm body to the ever-expanding list of "Things Angela has killed."

If any Grimm even thought about getting close, Darkclaw would quickly be drawn from its holster and the Grimm would return to the black from whence it came.

Finally, it seemed as if the last of the monsters had drawn its final breath, and the people of the stadium were secured and safe. Only once she was sure no more danger could come for them did Angela call for a regroup.

"Professor, what's going on?" Ruby nervously asked.

Angela sighed, "Vale and Beacon are under attack. We've lost contact with multiple of the Atlesian Cruisers around Vale, which is why Ironwood just left. The sky is going to be pretty difficult to navigate what with the storm Gabriel's cooking up. The White Fang has seized multiple portions of the city. That is what is going on, Ruby. We're under attack."

"Oh… but why?" Ruby asked again.

"Well…" Angela pondered her next words carefully, "Fuck if I know," she lied.

Ruby nodded and Angela pointed off, "There's an airship there. We can take it to Beacon before the skies get too crowded. With luck, we should be able to hold school for a little while longer. At least until some form of reinforcements arrive."

Angela and the group began to jog off to the waiting airship, where Angela quickly told the pilot that she and the rest of the occupants wanted to go to Beacon, double time. The pilot was somewhat worried about interference from the Grimm and the storm, but Angela assured him it would be fine, they just need to get down to the school. Once all the hunters were aboard, Angela shouted the order for the pilot to step on it and the airship took off.

As they gained altitude, Angela sat next to a depressed looking Emerald, who was currently just looking down at her own shaking hands in both shame disgust.

"Hey Em," Angela said as she sat down beside the greenette, "How are you feeling?"

"Like a monster…" Emerald replied, rather bluntly.

Angela took Emerald's quivering right hand in her own, her blue eyes locking into Emerald's own red, "There's no need to feel anything like that, Em. You're safe now, with us. With Gabriel and I. We'll protect you. I promise."

Emerald continued to look down with her eyes tearing up slightly. Angela wiped a tear from her eye, "Emerald, Gabriel and I were… thinking… about how you don't have a family."

Emerald sniffled and looked up, "You… you me… mean?"

Angela nodded, "I do. We wanted to give you a home, one where you would be safe and happy. Would you want that?"

Emerald nodded erratically, a similarly erratic smile replacing her frown in little to no time, "Thank you… Mom."

Mom… a smile crept onto Angela's face. Emerald just called her "Mom". A word that Angela had always wanted someone to call her, something that always held somewhat of a special place in her heart.

"Anything for you, kiddo," Angela replied as she kissed the top of the greenette's head, "Anything at all."

The airship slowly began to descend to Beacon and everyone began to ready their weapons for whatever hellhole that existed down there. When the airship landed, the group quickly exited, firing on any and all Grimm with enough of a death wish to get near them. It was a slaughter and with the help of the Atlesian Knights, they hunters in training quickly pushed back the Grimm.

Then the Knights just stopped.

Angela quickly realized what was going on and in a commanding voice shouted out, "Take out the Knights!"

Before they had any chance to respond, the Atlesian Knights in the nearby area were taken apart with ruthless efficiency. After the area was cleared of hostile threats, the hunters in training quickly fanned out, searching the area for more possible targets, while Angela and Emerald stayed behind to keep a landing pad secured if there was a need for an emergency evacuation of the school.

"So you really mean it? You and Gabe want to adopt me?" Emerald said, trying to make some small talk, seeing as how there were few enough Grimm that Angela was more than sufficient to deal with them.

"Yes, Emerald. I wouldn't lie to you like that," Angela replied, "We both know how much having a family means to you."

"Then… I guess I'll have to start calling you two mom and dad," Emerald smiled again, "So… thank you… again. For everything."

Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked Vale and the Atlesian command ship came tumbling out of the sky. Moments later, the ground beneath their feet shook from the impact, shattering glass, cracking concrete, levelling several city blocks in Vale…

But even after the massive command ship made planet-fall, the ground began once again to shake. Buildings were displaced, massive fires started, everything was being destroyed in the massive earthquake. And then it stopped, almost as if the might of the earth was straining against a force just as destructive as itself.

But it then broke, Mount Glenn shattering because of the force of the ancient beast that dwelled beneath it.

And thus came forth the monster…

In all its glory.

And all its horror.

The Grimm Dragon was awake. And it hungered.

* * *

 _ **And that's a wrap. I'd like to point out that I like running heavily modded XCom games, cause it's just so fun to see a single soldier just tear through every single enemy on a given map. Just cause it's funny.**_

 _ **As for Emerald, Gabriel and Angela? That relationship will be explored much more after the fall. And also, for all you Arkos fans, yes, someone else will bite the bullet for Pyrrha. Not gonna say who, but someone will.**_

 _ **Also, yes. Wraith did kill Roman. End scene. Also, Mercury and Neo are crippled as well, but we will hear back from both of them later.**_

 _ **Anyway, sorry about the late/lackluster update, see you next time.**_

 _ **Narsauce out.**_


	12. The strength of the Wolf is the pack

_**Heyo, its'a me, Motherfucker-io, posting another chapter of this-a story. Fuck me, I need a life.**_

 _ **Oh wait, I have one. I'm going to Uni in the fall, so Updates will most likely be spermatic. But I swear, I will update, and if I don't... well, I'm not dead... At least, I think I won't be.**_

 _ **But regardless, I got this chapter done and have been polishing it off over the last week or so. I'm trying to be consistent with my writing of characters, but if I am not doing so well, please do let me know. Other than that, thanks for all the support, and yes, there are two new reviews to the story, so thanks.**_

 _ **1740: I know, right? Bit of psi here, some massive explosions there, better Chosen weapons sprinkled all around. I love it.**_

 _ **Guest: Thanks, I hope I continue to do well in your eyes and in everyone's eyes.**_

* * *

 _The Avenger…_

Summer had a migraine. A very, very bad migraine. Sure, she has had many a migraine before but this…

THIS WAS A FUCKING MIGRAINE!

Even Tygan couldn't figure the damn thing out and when one of your two resident super-scientists can't understand why exactly her head felt like exploding, that wasn't a good sign.

It started around the late afternoon and it wasn't as if Summer had bashed her head against anything. She also hadn't had anything to drink lately, she decided against wine last night and just had water, so she wasn't hungover.

Maybe someone was trying to tell her something? Maybe the Elder who spoke to her earlier was trying to contact her again. But if that was the case, wouldn't she be asleep? That was how she spoke to… her? Him? It? That was how she spoke to it the last time.

Apparently, the Elder she had spoken to was known as Shak'tili. Just a little piece of information that she might want to keep should they ever meet again.

But regardless, it didn't seem as if Shak'tili was trying to speak to her in any way, seeing as how she would've fallen asleep if the Elder wished to speak. No, the migraine was something else.

Summer sighed, rubbing her head again before stepping into the Shadow Chamber at the New London facility. The Templars had a defacto HQ set up in the city and were taking in new recruits all over the world in order to teach them how to properly harness their power.

While the UN technically still did exist in some form, as they were a congregation of what remained of all the nations that survived, they had next to no power in the new world. Most people nowadays looked to XCom and the associate factions for guidance. The Reapers had mostly been tasked with cleaning up what remained of the Elders on Earth, as well as removing any non-Advent aliens left around. Skirmishers were set about socializing the now-former Advent forces into becoming productive members of society and Templars had, as stated before, been having to deal with the massive influx of psionic people being reported. Every day, it seemed as if another couple hundred people were revealed with psionic potential.

It was like a switch had been flipped and suddenly, everyone was psionic. At least, it wasn't nearly as rare as it once was.

As she walked into the facility, Summer noted the mess of technology that had been strewn about the chamber's rather large room. Namely, the massive psionic beacon, reaching into the ceiling, made out of strange purple and blue crystals, that was connected to a chair, presumably hers. All around the room, Templar and Xcom scientists rushed about, making any final preparations for her to find Alpha.

And hopefully, with it, find her way home.

Summer looked to the Templar leader standing in the corner of the room with Bradford, Vahlen, Tygan, Shen and the rest of the Resistance heads, "Geist, is everything ready?"

"Yes, Commander," The Templar leader replied, "The psionic signature amplifier is ready. If you are ready, we can continue with the search."

"Commander, if I may," Vahlen interrupted, "It will take some time to trace your psionic signature, so please do stay as near them as possible. That would help us immensely."

"How far away can you track my psionic signature using this thing?" Summer mused.

"As far away as it goes, Commander," Tygan replied, "Because both your body and your mind are connected, when the mind, or psionics, go wandering, it is always tethered back to the body in a strange way. Thus distance can be measured by checking the strength of the signal and direction by analyzing the psionic wavelength patterns."

Summer looked back at the massive construct and then back to the group, "I'm ready. Let's bring them home."

She sat down in the chair, calming herself as needles were inserted into her arms, sensor nodes were placed on her head, pads on her chest to monitor her heart and lung activities. Finally, a fairly large helmet was placed on her head, connecting her to the massive amplifier.

Sinking back into the chair, Summer's eyes began to droop, as the pain of her migraine began to spike again. But slowly, sedating drugs began to kick in and her throbbing head started to somewhat return to normal. She could feel her mind slowly leaving her body, ascending into a higher plane of existence.

The world went black and like that, Summer's mind raced off into the cosmos.

* * *

 _It was a weird sensation, leaving one's body behind. Really, really weird. So very, very, very weird. If she didn't have to, Summer wouldn't have done it._

 _But every time she felt like she was going to hurl, every single moment where she felt regret or she felt that this was going to somehow all go horribly wrong, Summer kept her cool. She remembered that she was doing this for a reason._

 _For her family._

 _For her home._

 _For Gabriel._

 _For Ruby._

 _She pushed through, no matter how mind splittingly painful the journey was, no matter how many times she felt like she just wanted to step away, return back to her body and cry. It didn't matter._

 _She would see her brother._

 _She would see her daughters._

 _She would see her husband, her sister-in-laws._

 _She would see her house, her pets, her mother and her father._

 _Summer whipped past stars and planets, lush worlds and barren rocks, asteroids and anomalies. She could feel a connection, a golden coloured psionic spark in the distance, Gabriel's spark, as it were. She was drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. But she felt other connections too, pulling her in the same direction._

 _A blue one, motherly and kind. Angela's._

 _A black-light, angry but calming. Darren's._

 _A blood-red light, fighting to keep others alive. Anne's._

 _A small silver light, like Gabriel's and her own, yet to awaken. Ruby's._

 _She could feel them all but she was too far away to see them or at least see to Remnant. Or even the Solar system that Remnant occupied. So, with a burst of psionically induced speed, Summer urged her mind forward, her psionic presence rocketing onward like a heat-seeking ballistic missile._

 _Though it was strange, for the minds of her family and of her friends weren't the only ones that she could feel. Further, into the galaxy, she could feel many others, familiar but at the same time, very alien, very different. Further still, she felt what could only have been the Elders, the last remnants of their strength and undisputed dominance._

 _Those would be explored later. For now, the only thing that mattered was finding home and subsequently saving it._

 _But as she got closer to the home she had for so long wished she could return to, Summer felt something even stranger._

 _Anger._

 _Rage._

 _Coming from her brother._

 _The golden psionic spark was more like a supernova, impossibly bright and very deadly. The closer she got, the harder it was to look at… but the more she looked, the more she felt drawn to it._

 _A short moment later, and she had reached her destination. Her home star system. She saw everything, every other planet, of which there were four inner rocky planets (Including Remnant, three of which were in the optimal habitable zone) and two outer gas giants. Of the gas giants, there was one in particular that she loved the look of, the further of the two. But because of Remnant's… predicament, so to speak, of not being able to achieve space flight, the people were never concerned about what lay beyond their home-world. Thus they were never named._

 _But the farther of the two gas giants had two beautiful rings, both orbiting at a slight but mirror incline to the equator of the massive green ball of gas. It truly was a beauty to look at, however, it was not one that Summer had time to blissfully waste away her time observing. Continuing forward, she arrived at her destination, Remnant._

 _The broken moon, a sure sign of Remnant, floated before her. But again, that was not the time to admire the moon, for Summer had a mission to complete. Descending through the atmosphere, she found herself in Mistral, noting off in the distance that the psionic sparks that she saw were off to the west of her location, all of them glowing brightly, furiously._

 _So off she went, returning to her old home, returning to Vale. But it was not Vale as she knew it._

 _Not even close._

 _If Vale was a person, that person would be bloodied and bruised beyond recognition. Beacon was overrun with hundreds, if not thousands of Grimm, while Vale itself was barely holding. As Summer's ethereal form looked over the broken cityscape she once called home, her eyes wandered to the psionic lights that illuminate the city's broken form._

 _Darren and Anne's were near each other, the black and the red of their psionic power mixing with each other in perfect harmony. Darren's psionics glowed with a ferocity such that he could easily be mistaken for a one-man army, cutting bloody swaths of Grimm apart. On the other hand, Anne's power radiated in a more defensive way, shielding the people around her from harm and healing their wounds._

 _Looking over to Angela's spark, Summer saw it like something she would see in herself. A mother's compassion. But also the same ferocity that any mother would have if they were defending their child. It reminded Summer of what she was like, how she would move heaven and earth to defend Ruby and Yang._

 _But then her eyes were drawn to Amity Colosseum, the massive flying construct where she and her team had won the Vytal festival in their third year. She saw countless Grimm swarming the open stadium, practically an unending horde of darkness and death. But every Grimm that was there was getting vaporized, as lightning leapt from one to the next, ripping each one to shreds and those shreds into atoms. Beams of golden psionic energy gutted any Grimm daring to come close. And at the center of this storm?_

 _At the center stood Gabriel, wielding Arashi and Katana in a deadly dance of death._

 _He seemed unfazed by the unending Grimmtide that was swarming the sides of the stadium, unconcerned at the sheer number of enemies that were coming for him._

 _He was killing each and every one of them. Those that were further away fell to Arashi and other ranged Psionic abilities, while those that came closer were shredded by Katana's blade along with what could only be described as a miniature psionic hurricane surrounding his body._

 _Geist had once said to Summer something akin to, "There is a point where a wielder of psionics loses their humanity. They become too indulged in their power, which only increases because of emotions. In those moments, they become forces of nature,"_

 _It was one of those moments. Summer had known Gabriel for years, a full decade at this point, and had seen him lash out like this before. Assaults on havens, when The Avenger was attacked, almost any point any of The Chosen decided to show up._

 _When Vox Prima, The Assassin, tried to kill her three days after she arrived on Earth._

 _This was like that, Gabriel getting so mad, so enraged that he had forgotten what it meant to be human, becoming a force of destruction._

 _But Summer knew that there was a way to stop him, to pull him out. She just had to get…_

 **RAWR!**

 _The world shook, as Summer finally noticed the GIANT FUCKING GRIMM DRAGON that had decided to make itself known to the entire fucking city. Summer turned her attention back to her brother, who was merely standing in contempt as most of the Grimm army that he had just been slaughtering flew away to join the larger beast in its assault on Beacon._

 _Which meant he had calmed down, at least a bit._

 _Summer seized her chance and rushed down to Gabriel's side, standing in front of him and linking their minds in such a way that he could hear and see her. It was the best she could do, for she was too distant to lend any meaningful strength._

" **Commander…?"** _Gabriel asked, his voice still somewhat distorted and doubled,_ " **Is that… are you… is this real?"**

 _Summer smiled back, her translucent form tearing up a bit (If a psionic apparition could cry, Summer's would be a waterfall) as she simply nodded in agreement._

" **Good,"** _Gabriel replied as he walked past her,_ " **Then I'll need your help. Beacon's about to fall, your kids are in danger, my kids are in danger, everything's going to shit. I need to get to Beacon."**

" _Wait! Gabe!" Summer shouted her apparition moving in front of Gabriel, "There's something I need to tell you…"_

" **Is it life or death?"** _Gabriel questioned, to which Summer shook her head,_ " **Then it can wait till after I put the pea-brained iguana fuck six-feet under."**

 _Summer sighed as she watched Gabriel run off to the access tunnels and decided it would be best if she followed. She didn't want him to get hurt and Summer had this nagging feeling that if she didn't go after him, Gabriel would get hurt a lot worse than whatever she could come up with._

* * *

Gabriel knew Summer would follow him, it was like the Commander she was, caring about her troops. But right now, he had a city to save, so hearing her "Oh so important" revelation was the last thing he needed to think about. Actually, come to think about it…

" **Commander, how the hell did you get here?"** he asked as he bolted down the maintenance hallway.

Summer's floating body came flying up beside him, " _Psionic amplifier. Tygan built it with the help of Geist. But Vahlen really kicked things into high gear. On that note, actually, you knew that Bradley and Moira were a thing, didn't you?"_

" **Anne accidentally walked in on them making out in the Hyperwave relay room back in the old base, so yeah, I did,"** Gabriel simply remembered, " **Wait… Vahlen came back?"**

" _Mmmhmm"_ Summer said, her floating body reclining beside him, " _She's worried. We all are."_

" **Well, with the giant Iguana out there, yeah, you should be,"** Gabriel laughed, " **On that note actually, do you know anything about it?"**

" _Ummm…"_ Summer mumbled, " _I… think it's called a Wyvern. It's really strong and can summon more Grimm. Sorry, I don't know more, the lesson we had on it back in school was boring and I fell asleep."_

" **Fell asleep, eh?"** Gabriel teased, " **Well that seems irresponsible of you, Commander."**

" _Please, just call me Summer,"_ She replied, " _And it wasn't my fault I fell asleep! The lecture was boring, Wyverns hadn't been a thing for nearly eighty years and Qrow's lap was comfy!"_

" **Wait… Qrow's lap?"** Gabriel wondered out loud, " **Something you wanna tell me, Comma… I mean Summer?"**

" _Maybe… But you won't let me because this is life or death, no?"_ Summer teased,

" **Fair, you win,"** Gabriel relented as he turned a corner to a docking area for bullheads, " **Do you think any of these aren't in use right now?"**

" _Maybe,"_ Summer commented, " _But I can't be sure. I'm still on Earth. Just jump in one and get it started up."_

" **Well, that's helpful."**

" _Well Gabe, I'm just trying to help,"_ Summer shrugged as Gabriel leapt aboard one of the stationary Bullheads.

Gabriel grumbled as he climbed into the driver's seat of the Bullhead. As he did, Summer appeared behind him, and nervously asked, " _Do… do you actually know how to fly one of these things?"_

" **Nope, but that didn't stop me with a Skyranger,"** Gabriel quipped back.

" _I thought you said you knew how to fly it!"_

" **I did,"** Gabriel smiled, " **But only after I flew it."**

" _You're an idiot,"_ Summer muttered.

" **I know,"** Gabriel started up the launch sequence of the Bullhead. The thrusters angled forward and up, pushing the flying vehicle off of the landing platform and into the sky.

Suddenly, Gabriel jerked the joystick downwards, sending the Bullhead careening downwards, letting it pick up a massive boost of speed. Slowly, Gabriel pulled back up on the ship, leveling it out at a steady speed of really fucking fast. When he snuck a look at the gauge, it read somewhere around just under halfway to supersonic. Which, for a VTOL aircraft mainly used for transport, was pretty good.

" _Well? Do you seriously plan on fighting the Wyvern in this thing? Does it even have weapons?"_ Summer questioned, floating by him and peaking at the console.

" **Does this answer your question?"** Gabriel replied, pushing one of the many buttons littering the control panel. A hatch opened up on the bottom side of the Bullhead, revealing a pair of miniguns while another hatch opened up on the nose of the vehicle, revealing two missile launchers, fourteen middle sized missiles in each.

Several Grimm came into view, at least twelve Griffons, screeching and flying right at the cockpit. Gabriel responded to their charge by firing all the weapons simultaneously. Two missiles launched simultaneously as the miniguns revved and fired upon the advancing Grimm. The two missiles flew in, exploding as they made contact with two of the Griffons. The explosion was much larger than anticipated, taking out a total of seven of the oncoming Grimm, along with the two at the epicentre. Gabriel then targeted the other advancing Grimm, mowing them down with the minigun, crashing right through the final one.

" _So it does have weapons,"_ Summer commented, " _Huh."_

" **So, while we're flying to Beacon, which should take us a few minutes, what was it you wanted to tell me back there?"** Gabriel questioned as all the weapons retracted into the Bullhead.

" _Well… umm… how exactly do I put this…"_ Summer mused, " _Actually, you know what? Have you ever wanted a sister?"_

" **Pardon?"**

" _A sibling,"_ Summer questioned.

" **Again, pardon?"**

" _If I told you I recently discovered that you had a sister, would you or would you not freak out?"_

Gabriel looked out the cockpit's window, guessing that the time till he arrived at the school to be five to ten minutes at the top speed of the Bullhead. Then he turned back to Summer.

" **Maybe,"** he replied, " **I guess my biggest question would be where they've been all my life."**

Summer looked shyly away, " _And if I told you that the sister I'm talking about was someone you know, what would you say?"_

" **Is it someone I know?"**

" _Yeah, someone you know,"_ Summer replied, " _Someone you've known for a decade. Someone you've fought with, saved, been saved by, help through sleepless nights."_

" **Comma… Summer,"** Gabriel quickly corrected himself, " **Are you… suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"**

" _I…"_ Summer began, " _Maybe… I mean, what do you think I'm suggesting?"_

" **That you're my… my…"** Gabriel began to stutter. What was he thinking? It was impossible, wasn't it? Summer was from Remnant, wasn't she? And he was from Earth, wasn't he? " **Are you my sister?"**

Summer's shade nodded, " _Please don't hate me. I only just found out about it…"_

Gabriel looked around, obviously stunned at the revelation. It wasn't that he didn't believe her, Summer had no reason to lie to him like that and she didn't seem like the kind of person to do that to him. It wasn't going to be protecting him from any big emotional hit.

" **But… how does that make any…"** he began, his voice stuttering, " **I was born on Earth. You were born on Remnant. How…"**

" _The damn Elders, they took you from me, from mom and dad,"_ Summer said, tearing up even more, " _They were just testing us, damn it! That entire war, both of them! Just toying with us! And you, me, Angela, Anne, Darren? We were their biggest so-called Gambit, just another fucking experiment. And you had to suffer for it!"_

" **Summer, you're giving me a migraine when you yell like that."**

" _Sorry…"_

" **So, for the matter of simplicity, let me just assume that everything you said is true. That would mean that…"** Gabriel gave pause to his next question, " **That would mean that Ruby is my niece, wouldn't it…"**

Summer merely nodded and again, her transparent shade was looking like it was going to cry.

" **And that would also mean that Angela's your sister in law…"**

Once again, Summer nodded.

" **This is still making my head hurt, just thinking about this,"** Gabriel muttered as the Bullhead closed in on Beacon's grounds, " **That dragon climbing the tower. We can't approach from the air, we'll be sitting ducks. I'm going to set us down in front of the tower."**

" _It's entirely your call, Gabe. You're the one actually here…"_ Summer commented, " _But please, try to keep Ruby safe… if she's anything like me, she's…"_

" **Going to try to play the hero, I know,"** Gabriel agreed, " **I've saved her twice and I've been here for… what, one to twoish months now, right?"**

" _Around that, yes,"_ Summer replied, " _WAIT, TWO TIMES!?"_

" **Yeah… your daughter is kinda an idiot…"** Gabriel began, " **Well… not an idiot per se… but she is impulsive…"**

" _She is also your niece, you know that, right?"_

" **As long as we assume everything you said was completely true."**

" _Which it is."_

Gabriel sighed, " **Well, at least there's one thing lending itself to your argument."**

" _That is?"_

" **We argue like siblings."**

" _Screw you."_

Rolling his eyes again at Summer's childish antics, Gabriel began to descend to the entrance of Beacon's tower, careful not to alert the Dragon which currently was above them. Gabriel quickly leapt out of the Bullhead, with Summer's shade following close behind him. As he left, he noticed the distinct lack of any people, psionic presence included, in the vicinity.

" **It's quiet…"** he mused, " **Too damn quiet…"**

But, almost as if the universe decided to answer his question, Pyrrha and Jaune came running out from Beacon's tower. And as soon as that happened, Gabriel and Summer felt a psychic tremor, a big one, followed by a scream of unbearable pain.

" _Oz... pin? Was that…?"_

" **I think so… dear god…"** Gabriel muttered, looking over at the two students currently standing outside the main tower.

Rushing forward in a burst of speed, Gabriel reached the two students, " **Jaune! Pyrrha! Where's Ozpin? Where's Cinder?!"**

Pyrrha looked up, tears in her eyes, "I… I… Ozpin's still d…"

A sudden shockwave permeated the air, as a blast of heat emanated from the tower's base. The sound of jet engines, or as close as it could get, roared in the air.

Gabriel looked up in disdain, " **Nevermind, that answers that question."**

" _Ozpin…"_ Summer mumbled in sadness, her voice tinged with remorse for her former mentor.

"Sir?" Jaune piped up, "What… what was all that?"

" **Shit that will be explained in due time, Jaune. But now isn't the time to explain things, now is the time to get a move on and get you two the hell out of here,"** Gabriel replied.

"But… Professor! We can still help!" Pyrrha cried.

" **You're only going to get in my way,"** Gabriel bluntly countered, " **Now I need you both to get the hell out of here. Things are going to get quite messy."**

"Profess...!" Pyrrha tried to complain again but was quickly silenced by Gabriel, who sent a psionic shock through the red-haired girl's body, causing her to collapse to the floor in a heap.

" **Take her and get the hell out of here Jaune. And please don't make this any harder than it has to be."**

Jaune looked down at Pyrrha's limp body, then back up at Gabriel but ultimately, didn't move.

" **Jaune…"** Gabriel growled, causing Jaune to jump up in fright.

Quickly, the blond-haired boy picked up his unconscious partner and began to sprint off, moving as fast as his legs could, what with the added weight of Pyrrha.

" _Are we seriously doing this? Are you seriously doing this?! That bitch just killed Ozpin!"_

" **All the more reason we should…"**

" _GABE!"_ Summer shouted, " _Don't do it, you won't stand a chance against whatever she is! She killed Oz for fuck sakes! YOU HAVE KIDS TO THINK ABOUT!"_

" **There won't be a damn place for them to live if I don't do this, Summer,"** Gabriel replied, " **I'm sorry… I have to."**

Then, like a bullet, he broke off into a sprint, heading right for the entrance of the tower, at top speed. He entered the base, eyeing one of the downed elevators and ripping open the doors. It couldn't be too hard to get up there, could it?

Ripping open the roof of the elevator, Gabriel clambered up to its topside. It was quite a distance to jump, even for him and quite a distance to fall should he miss. The easiest way up, Gabriel determined, was to let something else go down.

Gripping the cable that held the elevator in place, he drew Katana and cut it at the base. Gravity overtook the already teetering elevator, sending it careening downwards into the black abyss below. Hanging on to the now ascending cable, Gabriel shot upwards at ludicrous speeds, reaching about three-quarters of the way up to the top, before whiplash launched him upwards at even higher speeds. Latching onto one of the metal scaffolding pieces, he propelled himself further, reaching even faster speeds.

As he reached the door to Ozpin's old office, Gabriel pushed off the wall, his body contorting like a spring as his rocketed of the opposite side, Katana drawn, slicing clean through the door and breaking it in half. He stood slowly, his hand unwavering on his blade.

" **Cinder Fall…"** His teeth grated together as he said the name slowly.

"Come to try and kill me, Gabriel?" Cinder asked coyly, fireball's forming around her body, floating in a circle.

Gabriel smirked, his voice only becoming more distorted as he stood up, the golden psionic power he held flaring like a star around his body, " **Oh no. That would be too easy…"**

" **Y̴̹͇͌o̸̲̐͒u̶͕̍ͅ'̷͉̏l̵͇͔̈́l̷̟̼̀̈ ̸̮͆o̴̤̝͆́n̶̥̣̑ľ̶̩̲ẏ̷̢̖̃ ̸͔̾̕ẉ̷̧͋͝ḭ̷̱͌̓s̴̹͈͑ḫ̸͕̕͝ ̷̟̖̈ÿ̷̭́̉ớ̶͔u̶͕̇ ̷̝̃w̸͈̓̽e̷̙̞͛͝r̷͙͂e̷͚̾͜ ̵͕͋͜d̴̻̿̕e̸͉̬͆á̶͖̝ḑ̸̱͒͘."**

With a mighty lunge, Gabriel shot forward, slashing at Cinder with Katana, who only narrowly managed to avoid the brunt of the strike, despite receiving a scratch herself. Responding in kind, Cinder backflipped away, thrusting out her hand and sending a cascade of fire at Gabriel. Reacting quickly, Gabriel pulsed a bit of power out around him, sending a shockwave out from his body, breaking the fireballs under the shear force emanating from the burst.

Cinder grunted, rising slightly off the ground before firing a massive beam of flaming energy at Gabriel, who created a psionic pillar to block the attack. The psionic wall rippled as the flame licked the hardened energy.

Cinder obviously realized that she couldn't defeat him by playing cautiously, so she was picking up the pace of her attacks quite quickly. Four more balls of flame were created and flung at their target, crashing against the barrier, picking up smoke and debris, but none broke the pillar.

Another fireball came at Gabriel, who flipped out of cover to his right and blasting Cinder with a psionic volt. She managed to intercept the brunt of the attack, again by shooting more fireballs, but she was struck by a good amount of the psionic lightning.

Screaming in rage, Cinder slammed down her foot in anger, cracking the floor and causing more flames to lick the entire office. Gabriel reacted by nimbly flipping out of the way, raising Katana in a defensive stance, blocking some fire with the psionically imbued blade.

"WHY DON'T YOU DIE!?" Cinder shouted in anger, hurling more fireballs, only for them to be either dodged or destroyed by Gabriel's expertly placed swings of Katana. Her anger received no response from her opponent, for Gabriel could care less about her anger.

The only thing on his mind at the moment was securing the future.

For his family.

For his friends.

Dodging to the side again, Gabriel brought out Arashi, firing off three shots from its clip. Cinder created a sort of flaming shield, blocking the attacks, only to realize too late that it was a fake-out, as Gabriel appeared behind her, spin kicking her in the back and sending her flying to the wall, cracking it on impact.

Spitting out a wad of blood and cracking her neck, Cinder stood back up, her eyes ablaze with fire and fury. She lunged forward, with much more speed than Gabriel predicted, tackling him. Quickly, Gabriel rolled, bringing his feet onto Cinder's hips before performing a massive push kick, sending her flying up.

Gathering a massive amount of psionic energy into his palm, Gabriel thrust his hand forward, blasting out an earth-shakingly powerful Null Lance, with Cinder biting back with her own fire beam of death. The two beams clashed in the center, as a bright light illuminated the surroundings, causing a massive explosion that shattered the windows and caused the top of the entire tower to come careening off. The dragon, seemingly angered by the new scar he got on his face as a result of the explosion, let go of the tower and began to circle it.

Gabriel quickly got back up to his feet as Cinder descended, floating slowly down.

The fallen maiden chuckled, "Ironic, isn't it? For someone who claims to fight to protect the world, you sure seem to enjoy it's destruction, no?"

" **I fought monsters, little girl,"** Gabriel spat, " **I ended up becoming one. But then again…"**

" **Maybe a monster is what humanity needs!"**

Rushing forward with Katana, Gabriel raised the blade high above his head, while in her right hand Cinder formed a blade made of glass. The two blades clashed and quickly a victor was decided as the glass blade was cut clean through. As Gabriel landed, he lunged forward with his blade, stabbing at his target's center of mass with a brutally powerful thrust. Cinder, however, managed to create another glass blade that just narrowly deflected Gabriel's.

Flipping Katana into a reverse grip, Gabriel struck Cinder in the face with the pommel, staggering the maiden with the blow. Spinning with the impact, Cinder created a new glass blade, spinning around and striking at Gabriel's back, only to find her strike lacking as Gabriel nimbly slid under the swipe.

They squared off again, Gabriel detaching the knife section of Katana from the hilt as Cinder formed another glass blade in her hand.

" _Gabe!"_ Summer shouted in his mind, " _The wyvern looks like it's going to start coming back around!"_

Glancing to the massive Grimm, which was now somewhere over Vale, and steadily circling the tower at a distance, Gabriel realized that she was right. But now wasn't the time to think about the fire-breathing iguana that was attacking the school. Now was time to deal with the little bitch playing with fire thinking she wouldn't get burned.

Flipping the dagger portion of Katana into a reverse grip while maintaining the forward grip on the main blade, Gabriel dashed back into combat with his adversary. The blades of the two warriors clashed, the maiden's own glass constructs shattering on Katana. But for every blade broken, Cinder created another in its place.

Cinder herself fought like a demon, simply trying to use the raw strength of the Maiden's power to overwhelm her opposition. That plan, of course, was working about as well as one would expect, especially since she was fighting against someone of equal or greater power who also had much more skill in the art of close combat.

On an inverse note, Gabriel, while definitely enraged, wasn't only making use of his psionics to tip the balance but also his extreme agility, as well as martial prowess. Making note of every movement, Cinder performed, countering every single strike.

To an overhanded swing, he cut back with a counter-attack, to which Cinder blocked, ceasing her assault.

A thrust was brought low by a riposte.

For every attack, there was a response. Every time Cinder managed to land a hit, Gabriel did as well. And when they were moving as fast as they were, many, many hits were landed, many, many more were dodged.

 **(AN: Imagine the fight between Raven and Cinder from Vol 5 for speed references. As a reference, he has moved this fast before, specifically when saving Ruby from The Lost.)**

After a minute or two, both of the combatants had cuts and bruises littering them. Cinder's dress was in tatters, her arms and legs both covered in scratches and open wounds. Her left eye even had a scar running through it.

Gabriel was faring no better, having multiple wounds that would one day add to the collections of numerous scars he had. His face, rather surprisingly, was relatively untouched by the fighting, though he did have a small scar running across his cheek.

"Is… that the best… you can do…?" Cinder mocked, her breath ragged and drawn out. Despite that, her stance and flaming eyes indicated that there would be no slowing down from her, at all.

" **The best?"** Gabriel bites back, " **Girl, you're lucky those maiden powers of yours provide you with as much defence as they do. Without them, I could've easily torn you in half."**

The two once again began to circle, both of them noticing the Wyvern getting closer and closer with each pass around the tower.

But, as luck would have it, Gabriel didn't only have a pair of eyes focusing on Cinder. After all, Summer's ethereal form was still present, if not visible.

" _Gabe!"_ Summer shouted again, trying desperately to alert him to the danger the dragon posed, " _The Wyvern! It's coming back!"_

Heeding her warning, Gabriel peaked out over the ruins of Beacon, careful not to drop his guard and continuing to circle Cinder around the destroyed office. The Dragon had gotten closer, he noticed, and it was watching them intently, almost as if it was waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

" _You have to fight it on your terms, Gabriel,"_ Summer warned, " _Get rid of… this flamy bitch, then deal with the dragon."_

" **Easier said than done…"** Gabriel grunted softly, barely loud enough to hear.

However, around the time he muttered those very words, Cinder lunged forward. Taking an opportunity, Gabriel sidestepped, performing a powerful sweeping kick to the back of the Maiden's leg, tripping her and making her fall flat on her ass. But before she could fully land, Gabriel practically teleported next to her, fist reared back, alight with golden power, fury raging in his eyes.

" **Checkmate, you piece of shit."**

Cinder barely had time to register the fist flying at her face, nor did she have time to register the pain that she felt once the psionically empowered punch crashed into her like a tsunami would against a small town. She plowed through the floor of the tower like she was a bullet and it, wet paper, the only thing saving her life from the earth-shattering strike would be the powers of the Fall maiden enveloping her in a protective cushion, almost like a pillow.

A pillow containing someone hurtling to the ground at terminal velocity.

Gabriel stood up, his psionic power rippling around him. Sparks of psionic lightning and wisps of psionic flame licked his skin, his clothes, his weapons, everything. Turning to face the dragon, Gabriel steeled himself as the massive Grimm turned and roared definitely, challenging him and beginning to charge.

" _Gabe… please… don't be an idiot…"_ Summer warned nervously, obviously scared for how her brother would handle the upcoming matter of the Wyvern, " _Seriously, don't scare me like that. If that's too much, don't scare Angela… please."_

" **I…"** Gabriel said, pausing in the middle of his sentence, considering his words, " **I can't stand by and watch as that thing destroy Beacon… I can't fail again…"**

" _I JUST FOUND YOU AGAIN! I WON'T LOSE YOU!"_

" **I'm… I'm sorry, Summer. I have to do this."**

The Wyvern was getting closer, it's massive head nearing the tower. Backing up to the edge, Gabriel hopped a few times, loosening himself, before breaking off into a sprint. The Dragon flew closer, charging like a runaway rocket and Gabriel would meet it, like a golden comet.

He propelled himself up into the air, above the massive Grimm's head, before coming down with a mighty and thunderous crash.

As his fists made contact with the dragon's bone-white mask, the psionic energy within him burst forth.

And on that day, the sun rose twice, as a wave of golden light illuminated Vale.

* * *

 _With Ruby, moments earlier…_

Ruby was expecting many things from this day. For example, she was expecting a cool fight between two of her friends, not only one of her friends would be left alive. Similarly, she also didn't expect to find that both Blake and Yang had suffered life-threatening injuries.

And most of all, she really didn't expect the dragon. All in all, the dragon was the icing on the WTF cake.

For the past three, maybe five minutes since she and Weiss found both Yang and Blake, Angela had been coaching Emerald on how to use a nanomedikit, all the while blowing holes in any White Fang or Grimm stupid enough to come anywhere even close to her line of sight.

"Emerald, you're doing fine," Angela said calmly as she lasted another hole through an advancing Ursa.

"But… there's just… there's just so much blood!"

Angela almost bashed her head against the ground, "That's what happens when you get your arm cut off, Em. Just remember, push the blue button, then medikit will scan the wound and tell you how much to apply, then press the red button. Just listen to it."

Emerald nodded back, carefully continuing to spray the cold nano-tech liquid over the open wounds that both Blake and Yang bore. To be honest, when Ruby found them, she thought she was going to be sick. After all, her sister's arm was off!

"RUBY! WEISS!"

The two teammates looked over in the direction of the voice, seeing Jaune running at them carrying...Pyrrha?

"Why is Jaune carrying Pyrrha?" Weiss asked, confused at what she was currently seeing. Not that she didn't know of Pyrrha's crush on the blond haired dofus, she was just more confused at why Pyrrha was actually unconscious in the first place, or in needing of carrying.

The Red Reaper looked at her friend as he came ever closer to the landing pad of Beacon, worried for his health, "Jaune! What's going on?!"

"It's…" Jaune's breath was ragged, gasping even, "Cinder… Cinder killed Ozpin! And Gabriel's up there! He's fighting her!"

Angela's eye twitched, " **HE'S WHAT?!"** she shouted, a blue aura flaring around her.

"He…" Jaune tried to answer, but was suddenly cut off as a flash of light engulfed the entire area, as the top of Beacon was blown to shreds. The Dragon that had once been so proudly perched atop the massive spire took flight as debris scarred its bone-mask.

"He's doing that…" Jaune finished his sentence, watching the once-great top of Beacon's tower tumble down to the ground. The impact threw up dust, obscuring the vision of most of the people in the area.

Angela looked up at the tower, obviously quite cross with her husband. Merely a second after the massive explosion rocked the school-grounds, it appeared the fighting started again, golden psionic energy and orange flames started to spill over the outermost remnants of Ozpin's old office.

"Shit… we have to do something about that dragon…" Angela muttered to herself as Jaune set Pyrrha down next to Blake and Yang rather gingerly, "Ruby, Weiss, do you think you could help…" Angela looked around, noticing neither of them were there.

"Ruby?" she asked, "Weiss?"

"RUBY! WEISS!"

But at that point, the heiress and the rose were too far away to hear anything she had called out. Cutting through Grimm, dozens of them, the two Huntresses-in-training quickly tried to make their way to the tower.

Slamming down on a Beowulf with the plasma blades of her scythe, Ruby bisected it from the head to the crotch, before quickly refocusing her attacks on another of the oncoming Grimm, an Ursa. With the aid of Weiss' glyphs, it too was removed from their way with little to no effort at all.

The two partners slowly made their way to the tower, the gold and orange waves of energy getting more intense at the top every time they got closer. Until suddenly, they didn't. The waves stopped.

"Do you think…" Weiss began to ask. There was a level of nervousness not normally heard from her tinged her voice.

Ruby looked at her friend, "I don't think so… I hope not… I mean, Professor Owen is strong, I know he won't lose this."

Then they felt someone take a devastating blow, in their minds they were hoping it was Cinder, and go flying. Like an orange comet, a human was launched from the tower, careening for the school and levelling some buildings.

Ruby's eyes widened, the only coherent sentence she could form being, "Oh… shit."

"Was that him?" Weiss thought aloud, the worry obviously present in her voice.

"I… I don't know," Ruby replied, looking to where Cinder had, supposedly, landed, "Maybe?"

The two resumed running at the tower, though it would still be a while before they would actually reach it. But… as they ran, Ruby heard voices in the back of her head. Voices she never thought she would ever hear again.

" _Ruby…"_

Ruby halted in her tracks, her stomach churning with more emotion than anyone could ever understand competently. Her face was plastered with shock, worry, horror, pain and innumerable other emotions mixing together to form a smoothie of uncertainty that was promptly dumped on the WTF cake from earlier.

" _Ruby… please… listen to me…"_

Weiss turned around, looking at her stone still friend, "Ruby? Is everything okay?"

" _Ruby… look away…"_

"Mo… m?" Ruby stammered out, barely able to keep herself from a complete breakdown.

"Mom? Ruby, what are you talking about? Are you feeling alright?" Weiss questioned, still quite concerned for her friend.

" _Ruby… please… look away from the tower…"_ the hollow voice of a long thought to be dead Rose rang in her ear, " _Seek shelter… we don't want you hurt…"_

"Mom? What do you mean?" Ruby frantically looked around trying desperately to locate the source of her mother's voice.

"MOM!"

Weiss grabbed at her friend's shoulders, "Ruby, stop that!" she said, trying to calm down the red Rose.

" _Ruby… run… run far… please…"_ Summer's voice was louder this time, but Ruby still had a hard time discerning its location. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once, all around her but also in her head. As she spun frantically around, she, as well as Weiss, noticed a strong golden light emanating from the top of the tower's ruins.

The two huntresses glanced back up at the tower's peak, seeing the Wyvern charging definitely at it and a golden comet coming to meet it at the apex of its flight.

" _RUBY! COVER YOUR EYES NOW!"_ Summer's voice shouted out, no longer as sweet nor kind as it was but moments ago. She was now commanding that Ruby did as she said, no longer making requests, no longer taking any defiance.

Turning on her heel, Ruby dove at Weiss pinning them both to the ground, face down. Weiss was rightfully startled by this brazen act from her team leader, adopting an annoyed look upon her face, however, before she could complain, Ruby, in a similarly commanding tone as the voice of her mother but moments ago, simply said, "Close your eyes."

They did, but that didn't help the ringing in their ears.

* * *

 _Gabriel..._

Again.

 **SLAM!**

Again!

 **CRACK!**

STRIKE AGAIN!

 **BOOM!**

Hit after hit, blow after skull-splitting blow, rained down upon his adversary, the Dragon roaring mighty roars, trying it's best to shake him from its face.

He struck again, another psionically infused punch cracking the Grimm's bone plating. Another roar of pain. Another bout of furious thrashing.

The Dragon was slowly losing altitude, but it wasn't enough. Gabriel had to bring it down once and for all. Kill it or just simply ground it, the fact remained that it had to be put down.

Swinging upwards onto the Dragon's head, Gabriel struck it's top once more, craning the Dragon's neck once more, causing an even more serious decent to occur. Drawing Katana, he ran along the back of the beast to the leathery bat-like wings of Dragon. He had to time it right, to get enough power to cut his way through the entirety of the Dragon's thick wing joint. Reaching the joint, he made a quick, yet exceptionally powerful, slash with his psionically imbued blade, slicing it clean off.

The Dragon roared in pain and rage, it's body now tumbling from the sky, it's passenger falling with it. Gabriel gripped the falling beast's scales, igniting a psi blade from his hand and stabbing it into the thick, leathery hide. Forming another in his other hand, he launched himself to the dragon's head, getting a view of the surrounding area, for the briefest of moments. Noticing how close they were to the Emerald forest, Gabriel chose to push off the dragon's face, launching himself back at Beacon with enough force to send the beast crashing into the forest below.

The force of the leap sent him flying back at Beacon, crashing through several buildings like a meteor. His psionics flared, absorbing most of the damage, but it didn't stop everything.

He crashed to the ground, leaving a smallish crater in his wake. He stood up, noting that his left leg did have a limp and spat out some phlegm in his throat, " **That hurt… I think might've fractured something…"**

" _I TOLD YOU TO BE MORE CAREFUL!"_ Summer's voice shouted in his head.

" **And I thought I said doing things carefully wasn't making the cut,"** Gabriel argued back.

Summer growled, obviously angered by her brother's recklessness and decided to stay silent. Gabriel decided to begin moving, as the dragon was most likely not dead, just incapacitated for the moment. After a minute or so of walking, he found himself pushing his way through the nearest wall, being that it was already in a grand state of disrepair, what with a human meteor crashing through it, Gabriel found himself in a courtyard. A ruined courtyard.

Once much like the one Emerald saw in her dream, but that, he didn't know.

A fireball took shape, flying at him. He had ample time to dodge, rolling out of the way and coming up in time to see the fireball explode and tear apart the wall behind him. Cinder rose from one of the buildings hollow carcasses, her entire body wreathed in fire, her eyes ablaze with hate. One of which was black.

" **Still kicking, eh?"** Gabriel muttered, gripping Katana, " **Just my fucking luck."**

Cinder growled, launching another fireball. Gabriel sidestepped out of the way again. It wasn't hard to do, per se. These fireballs were thrown with much less caution than the ones previous but they had much more emotion behind them, the flames of each burning hotter and brighter than all the ones before.

An explosion rocked the courtyard, "JUST!"

"FUCKING!" Another massive explosion.

"DIE!"

A beam of fire was thrown from Cinder's hand, incinerating an entire section of a building. Gabriel nimbly dodged each of the oncoming attacks, but with a limp in his leg, the flames were actually starting to touch him. Not enough to be deadly, but it was worrisome.

A final fireball flew at him and Gabriel raised a psionic pillar to block it. The heat washed over the golden construct, as another explosion shook the ground.

" **Is fire all you can do, Cinder?"** Gabriel taunted, snapping his fingers and unleashing a psionic Soulfire, smacking Cinder in the head with a kinetic strike the size of a baseball that had the equivalent force of a car at its top speed.

Cinder's aura held the Maiden's power flaring and taking the brunt of the intense strike for her. However, that isn't to say that she didn't feel it. Her head snapped back from the intense force, growling in pain.

As the psionic pillar dissipated, Gabriel and Cinder once again faced off, looking at each other with intense hatred. In her hand, Cinder formed another ball of flame.

"Professor?"

Both combatants glanced over to one of the entrances of the Courtyard. There stood a red reaper, along with a white heiress.

" **Ruby? Weiss?"** Gabriel questioned. Cinder, however, was not one for questions.

She launched a massive blast of fire at the two huntresses, but neither of them moved, almost as if they had been petrified by the oncoming ball of death. They seemed mesmerized by it.

But Gabriel wasn't mesmerized. He urged himself forward, ignoring his body's protests and screams of pain, his legs continued to move. In what could be described as an instant, Gabriel was already on top of both the two young girls, pushing them out of the way of the massive blast with all his might. As they fell back, Gabriel slowly turned, looking into the wave of death that was approaching him.

Was this the end?

Would this be his final act before the curtain close?

His body was drained, weakened from the battles he had done. He was almost finished.

So would he finally go into that good night?

" **No."**

Raising his left arm, Gabriel cried out in defiance, creating a psionic barrier in the vain hope of protecting himself. The blast crashed against the wall, flames licking the sides, tickling his skin. In the barrier there started to form cracks, those cracks spread. Forcing more and more energy into the psionic ward, Gabriel tried desperately to keep it up.

But the cracks kept coming, kept widening.

Until it broke.

And a final, glorious explosion rocked the courtyard.

* * *

 _Ruby…_

"PROFESSOR!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs, Weiss only barely holding the girl back from the smoke and flames where the man once stood, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

She turned to Cinder, who was currently smirking triumphantly, "YOU KILLED HIM!"

"And so what if I did, brat? Would you like to join your teacher?" the maiden mocked, creating a glass bow in her hand, nocking two arrows on its dust string, "Never mind. You two will join the fool soon enough."

Cinder loosed her arrows, the dust-like creations flying forward to their targets as if they were blurs, streaking through the air with uncanny accuracy. But the two shots never met their target. At the last possible moment, the two huntresses disappeared into a burst of roses, leaving Cinder's hungry arrows wanting.

The girls reappeared slightly closer to the massive amounts of smoke, Ruby practically glowing in fury. Cinder growled again, nocking the second set of two arrows and fired them off as well, the black and red bolts ripping through the air like lightning.

But this time, Ruby didn't move.

The arrows tore their way to her, wasting no time pushing the air around them away. Ruby closed her eyes, standing in brave defiance of the Fallen Maiden. She may die, but she would prove herself not afraid.

But she didn't.

The arrows struck a shimmering golden barrier, shattering completely on impact. The smoke concealing the area of which Gabriel once stood was blasted away by a ripple of light. And there he stood, Gabriel, alive.

"What is it going to take for me to put you down?" Cinder rhetorically questioned, arming herself with another arrow.

" **You…"**

Cinder looked quizzically at the psion, "I what?"

" **You should've…"**

It was then, at this moment, that Ruby noticed that Gabriel wasn't as whole as he once was. He had burns up and down the left side of his body, the most severe being along his leg and shoulder areas. But besides the burns, what struck the red reaper the most was the distinct lack of one side of Gabriel.

He lacked his left arm. Most of it, at least. It had been taken off completely, all except a very small stub.

" **YOU SHOULD'VE GONE FOR THE HEAD!"** Gabriel shouted, lunging forward with reckless abandon, charging his adversary. Cinder misfired her arrow, which struck Gabriel in the lower abdomen area, but he couldn't care less, as he leapt up high into the air, slicing through Cinder. The woman dodged, avoiding the blade ever so narrowly. Gabriel landed behind her, a soft thump echoing in the empty courtyard.

Cinder spun on her heel to meet her adversary, but as she did, she felt a sharp disconnect between her and her body. Her left arm, similarly to how Gabriel's own was taken, had been removed from her body. Crying out in pain, anger, fear, Cinder clutched the once beautiful arm she had as it fell to the floor.

Gabriel, ready to finish the maiden once and for all, turned to face the now armless woman. But as he got closer to the Fallen Maiden, a black smoke coalesced around her broken body, forming into the body of a man. Gabriel stopped for a moment, the dark-cloaked person gingerly picking up the bleeding girl, before racing off into the night, a dark streak flying into the sky.

He looked up, gazing off into the distance, only seeming to realize that he not only had a hole through his gut but that he was also missing an arm after the black streak was gone from sight. He began to fall to the ground, as he slowly started to bleed out and slip into unconsciousness from exhaustion. As he fell, Ruby dashed over to him, racing him to a nearby wall, with Weiss tailing close behind.

No longer were his eyes glowing, nor was his body. He looked almost human if it wasn't for the many portions of his body that he was still missing. He spat out a wad of blood and began mumbling deliriously.

"Weiss, do you see that medikit?" Ruby asked, to which Weiss nodded and grabbed the non-ruined medikit from Gabriel's belt, "Do you remember how to use it? We only have one."

"I… not really… I don't remember everything Angela said," Weiss replied, fumbling with canister like thing.

Gabriel coughed up another wad of blood, "Blue… but… ton… push… to sc… scan…"

Weiss did as she was instructed, only to have the medikit blare back: **SERIOUS DAMAGE DETECTED. ADMINISTER MEDIKIT NOW.**

"Well, no shit!" Weiss commented, pushing the other button on the medikit, the red one. The medikit sprayed out the mist of nano-machines, coating the wounds and burns in a thin layer of grey slime. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough to cover all the wounds on his body, leaving some of the burns on his legs and a part of the hole in his abdomen still open and untreated.

Weiss frantically shook the container, desperately trying to get any more of the nanites out, "Nonononono, this can't be it, there has to be more here…"

"Professor?" Ruby said, drawing the attention of the slightly unresponsive man, "Are you… are you gonna die?"

Gabriel blinked. Then he blinked again, staring blankly at the red reaper's face, "Ruby… have I ever… have I ever told you how… how…" He coughed up a wad of blood onto the ground, "How much you look like your mother?"

"You… you know my mom?"

"You know her mom?

"I know…" another wad of blood coughed up, "A lot of people, Ruby… good people… people who aren't here anymore…"

As Ruby looked down, obviously saddened because she believed Gabriel had just confirmed that the voice in her head was just an illusion, Gabriel spoke again, "Summer Rose isn't one of those people, Ruby… y'know what she is?"

Ruby looked back up, into Gabriel's eyes, deep into them, "What?"

"She's still here…" Gabriel said, slumping back, tears running down his face, "She's proud of you, Ruby… I'm proud of all of you… We're all proud… you've all come so far… risked so much…"

Ruby's eyes began to wet with tears of her own, Gabriel reaching up to her face with his still-functioning hand, wiping away the tears, "Please don't… please don't cry. I'm not going anywhere…"

Ruby looked the man dead in his eyes, cupping his hand with her own. She noted a change in their colour, being that they were no longer simply hazel. Now, they were more a swirling of both their old brown and… silver? Ruby didn't seem to care, "Promise?"

"I promise, Ruby," Gabriel weakly smiled, before coughing up another wad of blood, "And Weiss…"

"Professor?"

Gabriel glanced over to the white-haired girl, gesturing her closer. "I have some… something to… tell you…"

Weiss leaned in close and Gabriel whispered something into the heiress' ear. Her face flushed bright red, her entire body began to tremble and her voice became quite stuttery, "How… how did… how did you know?"

"It's pretty obvious when you look close, snowflake," Gabriel said, straining to get every single word out, "But you tell then when you're ready… just… for your sake, don't wait too long."

Weiss nodded, smiling slightly at the man before her. Gabriel returned the favour, leaning back and sighing, only for a massive roar to be heard echoing through the school grounds. Gabriel's body tensed at the noise, causing him to double over in pain. The ground shook, and from what the trio could tell, the Wyvern was up, and it was angry.

"PROFESSOR!" Ruby shouted, rushing to keep the pained man upright.

"Ruby…" He muttered, his speech even wispier than it was previously, "I'm…" his voice became fainter by the second, almost unhearable. Ruby quickly propped him back up against the wall.

"Please don't go…" she cried, "Don't lie to me… please don't lie to me too…"

"I'm sorry… Ruby…" Gabriel continued, his faint voice slowly losing its presence as his skin paled, "I'm so… so sorry…"

Ruby looked down at the man, "Sorry for what?"

"What… what I'm about…" he weakly explained, "To do…"

The shadow of the Wyvern now loomed over them, it's massive body blocking out the moon. It looked down in rage, roared again and went for the kill. Gabriel reached up to Ruby's face, his hand grabbing at her. She felt an overwhelming amount of energy course through her veins, her very soul. Her eyes started to burn.

Looking directly into his eyes, Ruby noticed they were pure silver, just like her own. But she had no time, her vision became clouded as she let out a tortured screech of pain, energy pulsing to her eyes.

Everything went white, only to fade to black.

* * *

 _ **Anyway, that's done. Hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you sometime in the future. Have a nice one!**_

 _ **Narsauce out.**_


	13. A New Start

Narsauce ** _here..._**

 ** _..._**

 ** _I don't particularly like University._**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Have another chapter_**

 ** _I'm gonna go and sleep now._**

 ** _Oh yeah, I don't own shit. And please R &R._**

* * *

 _Bright._

 _Too bright._

" _Ow… my eyes…" Ruby thought, her eyes blinking and adjusting to the light of the area. Her eyes opened up, she looked around and saw nothing but white. No landscape, no hills, no trees, no blood. There was no Beacon, no Grimm, no buildings. Nothing._

" _What the…" she thought, "Where am I?"_

" _WEISS!? GABRIEL!?" she shouted, calling into the unending white void, "ANYONE!?"_

 _But the endless expanse of nothing begets her no response._

 _Ruby curled into a ball, "Please… don't leave me alone…" she whimpered, "Not again…"_

 _As she fell down to the ground, Ruby felt grass growing, felt the scenery changing. The Sun came into view, the white world fell away, and she found herself standing at a cliff, a very familiar cliff at that._

 _The cliff upon which her mother was buried. Or at least, where she once thought her mother had been buried._

 _She looked to the grave marker, stifling back a tear to joy. Her mother was alive!_

 _But if fate had its way, all that would do is replace one grave marker for another._

 _Gabriel's._

 _Her tears grew in number as she remembered how he had leapt in front of the fireball. The one intent on her death. How his bloody, burnt, broken and bruised body had dealt a crippling blow to Cinder Fall._

" _Professor…" she cried, lightly brushing the grave marker as the name changed from her mother's to his own, "Please don't go…"_

 _All around her, the scenery changed again, the grass died, the trees wilted, the sky itself turned black, and the world became covered in a thick layer of mist. All around her whispered voices, hundred of them._

" _You failed…" they all said, each one echoing another._

" _No!" Ruby screamed in fear, lurching back as forms began to take shape in the mist._

" _We believed in you… you failed us…" the voices continued to say on repeat. Slowly, the forms in the mist began to come closer, shuffling at her like undead monstrosities._

" _No! This isn't real! I didn't fail anyone!"_

" _You failed."_

" _No!"_

" _You failed!"_

" _No!"_

 _The forms came into view, hundreds of them. Weiss, Yang, Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, everyone. All the teachers, all the students, even some she didn't recognize. Each and every one of them was mutilated and deformed, guts spilling out, eyes and limbs missing, black splotches all over their skin._

" _YOU FAILED!" The hoard screeched a final time, rushing her._

 _Ruby reached for her waist to grab her scythe, only to find herself lacking Crescent Rose. Failing that, she tried to run but found that a tar-like substance had grasped onto her leg, small human-like hands crawling up her leg._

 _The mass of deformed flesh and bone descended upon her, pushing the red reaper to the ground, piling upon her._

" _GET OFF!" She shouted, her shrill voice ripping through the air like knives. In a violent cascade of energy, the corpses of her friends were thrown from their positions. The silvery wave tore through them, disintegrating all those in its path with ruthless efficiency. The scenery even reverted back to the quiet cliff side of her mother's supposed final place of rest. Ruby remained curled up in a ball, still crying, even after the little nightmare she had experienced faded away._

 _But those monstrosities were only the beginning._

" _Ruby…"_

 _She blinked, jolting up and glancing around, trying desperately to pinpoint the source of the sound._

 _Again, like before, it came from everywhere, all at once. It had no defined start, seeming to come from all directions at once. It was similar, concerningly so, to the voice that Ruby heard at Beacon. The voice…_

 _It was her mother's._

 _There was no doubt now, no shred of disbelief, none at all, that Gabriel was telling the truth of her mother's untimely fate, that she was alive._

 _Just not here._

" _Come to me, my little rose…"_

" _MOM!?" Ruby shouted out into the void, "MOM!?"_

 _The world around Ruby fell away, slowly being replaced by another, more torn landscape. The dirt below her feet was mud, covered by a layer of snow. A massive explosion rocked the world, inhuman and human screams heard from every direction.i_

" _Let me show you what a real hero is…" the faint voice of her mother whispered, the soft voice somehow infinitely louder than the explosions around Ruby._

" _MOM?!" the red-cloaked girl cried out again, "MOM, WHERE ARE YOU!?"_

 _As she called out, an object sailed past her, leaving a trail of blood and guts behind it. The object crashed into a tree stopping with a sickening crunch, the now recognizable body of a soldier going limp on contact._

 _Ruby could only spare the soldier a short empathetic glance before she saw what had attacked him. A giant, hulking mass of muscle and anger. The beast had fists that could pop her head like a grape and, while it's legs were comically short and stubby, it's mouth… oh god, its mouth. It was sectioned off down the middle, allowing for the two halves to split, each one bearing a massive, singular fang, and when open, the maw revealed hundreds smaller, lacerating daggers that lined the cavity._

 _The creature let loose an unholy roar, rearing it's fist back to strike at the soldier. Ruby looked at the man, and upon his face, there was a slight grin. Why was he grinning?! He was about to die!_

 _Then she looked at his hand and saw that he was holding a single grenade. One green, glowing grenade._

" _Eat… this, you… alien bastard…" the man weakly, yet defiantly muttered._

 _In a flash of green light, both he and his assailant disappeared, not a trace of either left behind. The trees around her began to smoke and burn away as splotches of superheated plasma landed around her._

 _Ruby was horrified, her face representing that horror. She simply couldn't comprehend what she just saw. That man had just willingly committed suicide in the hope that his actions would kill his enemy, which ultimately was the end result of his endeavour._

" _He was a hero, Ruby," Summer's soft and melodic voice spoke to her again, this time the voice coming directly behind her, "Do you know why?"_

 _Ruby whipped around, finding herself face to face with what could be described by many as a reflection of her own face. But Ruby knew better. The height, hair-length, the maturity._

 _The white cloak._

" _M… m… mo…" Ruby could barely form coherent sentences, but Summer silenced her, placing a single finger on the girl's lips._

" _Yes, my little wolf. It's me," the elder Rose woman confirmed, "I'm here. But you didn't answer my question. Why was that man a hero?"_

" _M… mommy… I… can we just talk?" Ruby was still in extreme shock from seeing her mother's transparent body floating in front of her._

" _First answer the question, my little rose."_

" _I… I don't know…"_

" _Sacrifice." Summer rather bluntly stated, "It is the catalyst of which all heroes are born. I do not know this man, nor do I know his story. But he sacrificed himself so that many others could live. So that many other innocents could see the light of day one more time. For that, he is a hero. One who, while not remembered specifically by name, will be remembered forever. Now, why did I show you this?"_

 _Ruby looked back to the crater in the ground where the man once lay, "Mom, can… can you stop asking questions? Please? I haven't seen you in a… a decade and the first time I get to see you, all I get is a… lesson. I just want to be with you again… please."_

" _There is a reason, Ruby and trust me, we'll have more than enough time to talk and catch up later," the shade of her mother chuckled, "Again, why did I show you this?"_

" _I… I still don't know, mom…" Ruby muttered, "I don't know…"_

" _Because you feel guilty for Gabriel's fate," Summer blatantly responded, "You blame yourself for the actions of your uncle, even though he chose to save you and lose a part of himself of his own volition."_

" _Wait… Uncle?" the little rose questioned, "Gabriel is my uncle?"_

" _Yes," her mother confirmed, "But back to the topic at hand. Do not feel as if you are in any way responsible for what happened to him. It would only make his sacrifice lose it's value."_

" _But I could've moved out of the way… I could've done anything… I should've done something," Ruby moaned, "I'm the reason why he got hurt… I'm the reason why he might die…"_

 _Summer sighed, "Stop blaming yourself, please. Gabriel has always been like that. At the drop of a hat to risk it all for those people around him. Every time, he knew he was putting his life on the line, but every time he decided to do it anyway. Do you know why?"_

 _Ruby stayed silent to her mother's question, so the elder rose continued, "Once, the second year with them, I asked why him why he fought. He told me that he fought because he had to. Gabriel said that if saving the world was at all possible, even if it meant giving up happiness or even his life, it was worth it. Because if he didn't, there might not be anyone else who could. My father, your grandfather… he told me the same thing when I was your age."_

" _My point is, Ruby, don't blame yourself for what he did," Summer continued, "It was his choice."_

 _Ruby weakly sighed, "So what now? Are you going to leave me again?"_

" _Yes, I will," her mother replied, "Only for a little while, at least."_

" _Will I see you again soon?"_

 _Summer's shade smiled sweetly, "Of course, my little rose. I'll be home before you know it."_

 _The apparition of her mother soon dissipated. Soon followed the world of mud, blood and snow that Ruby stood in. Her dream reformed the world around her, taking her back to her mother's grave marker, on the cliff, the sky a beautiful red. Only this time, it was replaced by a singular flowing white rose._

" _I'll see you soon too, mom," Ruby mumbled, happiness dotting her eyes, "Thank you."_

* * *

 _Emerald… Eight months after The Fall…_

For the record, Emerald was having a good time with her new family. Also, for the record, it sucks having to watch over your comatose, near-death father for nearly Eight months, while helping out your aunt, (who in this case is Anne), take care of said father, along with both Ruby and Yang. What made it even more fun was the new additions… which she also helped to take care of.

Three of them.

One cousin and two siblings.

They were all around a few weeks old, at most barely a month old, and all three were growing quite quickly. Emerald's new cousin was named Moira Yip, an unusual name for a Remnant-born person with the colour-naming rule, but it wasn't without significance. As Emerald learned, the name did hold importance to them, as the little black-haired, green-eyed girl was named after Moira Vahlen, an old friend of the baby girl's parents.

Her siblings, twins at that, were named Aaron and Jane, just as Dad and Mom wanted them to be. They were always so happy whenever she and Mom took them out on walks, Aaron always wanting to be held by one of them, consistently grabbing at her green hair. Speaking of her hair, Emerald had grown it out so that it was shoulder-length, if not a short bit longer. She often just let it hang out, but if she was doing any dirty work or going out for a run, a ponytail was her preferred hairstyle.

Back to her siblings, Emerald loved them both, them and their cute squishy cheeks and their bright silver eyes. It wasn't that uncommon for Angela to find her and her younger siblings curled up together, one on each side of her.

It also wasn't uncommon for her to fall asleep in her father's room with her two siblings curled in their cribs next to her. The room contained an I.V. drip used to keep Gabriel alive, if not just barely, while Asimov performed consistent scans to ensure his health was stable. While Anne wasn't technically a doctor, as she had never gone to any school for medicinal practices, she performed her job better than most doctors could, in many ways, more diligently than most doctors could ever hope to.

Gabriel himself was looking much better from when they had found him in Beacon. Shortly after Ruby and Weiss had fled, she and Angela followed in hopes of finding them before they got hurt. Soon after the blast of light that petrified and/or vapourised every Grimm on school property happened, the two found Gabriel, Ruby and Weiss, the former two knocked clean into unconsciousness and the latter stunned, in a ruined courtyard, with a lovely and quite terrifying Draconic statue hanging precariously over them.

Upon examining the three, it was clear who had taken the brunt of the damage, that being Gabriel himself, what with the lack of an arm and the exceptionally severe burn marks lining his body. Angela had called in a bullhead, the five were quickly evacuated to the nearest medical center on Patch, one of the places somewhat untouched by the attack.

Anne was quick to treat the wounded, primarily Gabriel, Yang and Blake, while setting up Ruby with an I.V. Weiss was given a room to recover, waking up only hours after the attack. Similarly, Pyrrha was also given a place to recover, one which Jaune, Nora and Ren didn't leave until she woke up two days after the attack. Which, if Emerald remembered correctly, was the first day that Jaune and Pyrrha officially started dating.

Time passed on and gradually, things sort of returned to normal. Blake all but disappeared, Sun leaving to follow her. Terra, under order of Alec, was also sent on an assignment to tail the two. Weiss was taken from her friend's side just a week before Ruby woke up by her bastard of a father, at which point it was nearly four months after the Fall of Beacon, November, approximately. Yang had been bedridden for the past few months at that time, while Anne treated her now much shorter right arm, which had healed nicely.

Team JNPR had been staying in a nearby town's hotel/tavern, the four of them often coming to check up on Ruby's comatose state while also making a point to visit Angela and Emerald at least twice a week to help out with chores around the hour. And to visit Gabriel.

When Ruby did wake up, she was quiet. Not that she wasn't happy, but she didn't have those random outbursts of energy anymore. For the first month or so after she woke up, she too stayed in her bed, only leaving to go and check on Yang or to talk to people who came to see her. The second month, Ruby was back up, still not her old hyperactive self, but much more open. Emerald had even helped Anne with making the croissants that Ruby enjoyed so much, bringing a basket over to the red haired reaper.

Nothing much had changed in their lives over that time. It was simple, and Emerald loved every second of it, loved being with her new family. Despite it not being entirely whole yet, having a family was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

But then came that day, two months ago, six after the Fall of Beacon. Angela had been over at Darren and Anne's to see how the twins were coming along (at the time, they were due in a week or two). Emerald had been resting on the sofa, listening to calming music after shovelling the walk.

* * *

 _Two months prior…_

 _Emerald softly hummed along to the music playing in the background as she held in her hands a warm cup of hot chocolate. She was sitting on the living-room couch, in a set of track pants, a warm shirt with one green, large poofy sweater overtop. Angela bought it for her on The Winter Solstice. Before her mother left, she had put on some music by someone named "Ludovico Einaudi," saying he was a well-known pianist back when she was younger. Emerald could only agree, the music was soft and quite relaxing, sort of like sinking into a hot bath with a lavender bomb in it. She had dozed off many times that day listening to the dozen or so songs. Throughout the playlist of music, there were also other composers, other songs, totalling to around fifty orchestral songs._

 _There was also a group called "Two Steps from Hell," which also made lovely music. None to reasonable to fall asleep too, but good nonetheless._

 _As her eyes closed, Emerald heard a knock on the door, "Come in! It's open!" she shouted as she jumped up and ran to the front hallway, leaving her hot chocolate on the coffee table in the center of the living room._

 _The front door creaked open just as Emerald reached it, revealing Ruby along with Team JNPR standing out in the snow. All of them were fully clothed in combat gear. None of them had changed that much since they last saw each other, though Janue stood up much straighter and seemed to have filled out his once lanky body. It seemed as if the training with Pyrrha never did stop, even in these conditions. Lie had grown his own hair out, letting his black, spikey mop of hair come down just past his shoulders. Nora… well, Nora was still Nora, so not much has changed with the little lightning lady. She was still as hyperactive as ever, wearing that white and pink skirt and shirt she loved so much. Even her hair had stayed relatively the same length, but it was arguable that it was slightly longer._

 _Pyrrha… Pyrrha was the most different of the members of Team JNPR. Her long, flowing red hair was still present, though now instead of a ponytail, it was done up in a long braid, which stretched the length of her back. She no longer wore the circlet around her head, as she had instead used her semblance to break it and from two bracelets, one for her and one for Jaune. Other than that, her outfit hadn't changed all that much, other than her adding a red skirt._

 **(AN: For those who don't know, a Spartan defensive skirt is called a Pteruges, meaning feathers. Think one of those, but red.)**

" _Hey Em," Ruby weakly said, gesturing indoors, "Could we… umm… come inside. It's cold."_

 _Emerald nodded hurriedly, "Sure, sure, come in. I don't want any of you to catch a cold," gesturing them indoors and helping them bat the snow off of their bodies, "Would you like some hot chocolate? I could make some more."_

" _That would be lovely," Pyrrha replied with a bright smile._

 _Emerald quickly ushered them to the living room, herself going to pour some more cups of the single best liquid a human could possibly consume for her guests. She returned with a tray with four warm and steamy mugs, placing one down in front of each of her friends before herself sitting down with her own._

" _So…" Emerald began, "Whatcha planning on doing today?"_

 _The group of five looks amongst each other, Ren being the first to respond, "Well, we were planning on going off to Mistral, to try and track down Cinder."_

 _Emerald adopted a more serious look on her face, "Mistral? Why Mistral? Isn't Vacuo closer?"_

" _Yeah, it is, but our resident experts on Vacuo aren't here," Jaune explained, sipping from his mug._

" _And since three of us are native to Anima…" Nora continued, gesturing to herself, Ren and Pyrrha, "Well, you get why we're going to Mistral."_

 _Emerald glanced at Ruby, "Have you told your dad? He'd probably want to know."_

 _Ruby stayed silent, only taking a sip of her drink before putting it down, "... No. I didn't tell him. He'd get too worried."_

" _Did you tell Qrow? Yang? Anyone?" Emerald asked again, this time with a bit more concern in her voice._

 _Ruby shook her head, "No… Well, you but…"_

" _I don't count."_

" _Then no," Ruby said, "Though we also wanted to come here to say goodbye."_

" _To?" Emerald asked._

" _Gabriel," the group of five responded._

 _Emerald sighed, "Well… would you like to see him? He's just upstairs right now."_

" _Has he gotten better since we were last here?" Ren questioned as he took another sip of his drink._

" _His scars have healed a bit, so yes," Emerald replied solemnly, "But he hasn't woken up. Anne says he can still hear us, but we don't know if he'll ever be back. If you want, I can let you in the room for a few minutes to see him for yourselves."_

 _Pyrrha smiled, "That would be very nice, Emerald."_

 _After finishing their drinks, the group left for the upstairs guest bedroom, the one that currently was where Gabriel was staying. Emerald quietly opened the door, as to not disturb anything in the room, "Alright, you can all go in. I'll just be out here. Be sure not to touch any of the equipment, Anne said it's susceptible to damage."_

 _Team JNPR all seemed to understand, walking into the room quite quietly. Ruby, on the other hand, stayed outside, closing the door respectfully behind the four. She looked tired, absolutely nothing like the joyful, excited girl that lived before the Fall. Despite Emerald not wanting to admit it, Ruby's energy was one of her most enduring features, her seemingly consistently positive outlook on life was a joy to see and always made the older girl smile every time she saw her._

 _But that joy, the energy, that positive outlook, the happiness. It was all gone. Ripped away from her. Emerald could understand why. Ruby did lose contact with her best friend after the Fall, Blake had run away, Gabriel was put on the brink of death by her inaction, Penny was as good as dead, and Yang wasn't herself anymore. Ruby had a lot of guilt and loneliness weighing on her shoulders._

" _Ruby?" Emerald asked, politely placing her hand on the red rose's shoulder, "Is there anything wrong? I thought you wanted to go in."_

" _I… I don't know…" Ruby replied, "I just… I just can't see him like this. No matter what… no matter how much I try to convince myself, I just can't get the guilt off my shoulders…"_

 _Slumping down against the wall, Ruby continued, "I had a dream… My mom was in it… she tried and tried to convince me that it wasn't my fault… even then… I still feel like it's my fault."_

 _Emerald sat down next to Ruby and began to stroke through the girl's brown hair, "Ruby… you do know him, right? He wouldn't want you to feel bad about this. He just wants what's best for everyone."_

" _I know," Ruby mumbled, "Besides… I have other reasons for wanting to go to Mistral."_

" _Pardon?"_

" _I have this gut feeling," Ruby replied, "Almost like something is pulling me there… I don't know what, or how, or why, but it is. And on top of that, I feel like it's my duty because of what happened to Gabe."_

" _Well, when Cinder…"_

" _Don't say her name…" Ruby growled, a silvery aura glowing faintly around her, causing Emerald to straighten her back in fright, "I'm… I'm sorry, I just hate that bitch… she took everything from us all…"_

" _Fair," Emerald relented, "Regardless, Leonidas Lionheart was the one who faked out transcripts to send us to Vale. He's been working with whomever Cinder…" another visible cringe from Ruby, "Sorry… whoever she was working for to get a good number of the hunters of Mistral killed, sending them on impossible missions and getting them trapped and whatnot."_

" _A word of advice," Emerald continued, "Don't go to him for help. He's not your ally, he's a coward and a fool. If he thinks his life will be spared by taking yours, he wouldn't hesitate to have you killed."_

 _Ruby looked up at Emerald, her silver eyes looking deep into the older girl's red ones, "You sound like you really hate him."_

" _I do," Emerald muttered, "Every aspect of him is just so damn disgusting."_

 _Ruby giggled, "Y'know, Emerald, I'm glad I can call you a friend."_

" _Same," the Greenette responded in kind._

 _The two stayed sitting together for the better part of ten-ish minutes, merely sitting in each other's embrace. After those ten minutes were up, Team JNPR had come outside after saying goodbye to the unconscious ranger._

" _Are you not gonna say goodbye, Ruby?" Jaune asked, rightfully concerned for his friend's mental state._

" _Yeah, I will," Ruby said, "I just wanted to do it privately."_

 _As Ruby moved to the door, Emerald piped up once again, "Do you want me to be there with you? I just don't want you to feel like you're alone."_

" _I…" Ruby began, only to swallow her words and instead say, "That would be nice. Thanks, Emerald."_

 _The two entered the room, both of them walking over to Gabriel's right side. He looked horrible, but most people would if put into a situation similar to his own. While the third-degree burns that had covered his left side had healed, thanks in part to by the nanomachines (the same ones used in nanomedikits) that Asimov seemed to be able to produce near-infinite amounts of, Gabriel's left side was still damaged to the core, scars running deep into his body. His arm was gone completely, taken off just below the shoulder, leaving him with naught but a stub._

 _Surprisingly, his face was still quite okay, with no significant scarring on it at all. None that the nanomachines couldn't fix, at least._

 _Ruby grasped at Gabriel's hand, kneeling at the side of the bed with his hand on her forehead. As she began crying, Emerald simply placed her hand on the younger girl's shoulder, letting Ruby cry away her sorrows._

" _I… I'm s… so… sor… sorry," Ruby mumbled through hiccups and coughing fits, "I… I shou… I should've done… more…"_

" _I could… could've saved you…" she continued, tears running from her eyes like waterfalls, "An… and now y… you're… this…"_

 _Ruby's head thumped into the bed, her eyes staining the sheets, her muffled moans and screams barely hearable. Emerald kept simply stroking the younger girl's shoulder, kneeling down with her. Ruby was still holding onto Gabriel's arm, crying into it as if it were a tissue. She came away from the arm, Emerald tightly hugging her as the red rose wailed softly._

 _Five minutes had passed, and Ruby's crying had slowed to a sniffle, "Do… do y… you... think he'll b… be okay?_

" _Yes, I do," Emerald nodded, "Dad is strong, he'll make it through this. I have no doubt about it."_

 _Ruby smiled meekly, her face still deep in Emerald's shoulder, "When he w… wakes up, please tell him I know…"_

 _Emerald was confused, "Know what?" she asked._

" _I saw my… my mom in a dream," Ruby mumbled through a cough, "She told me some things… about being a hero… how she was coming home soon… I don't know when… But she said Gabriel was my uncle…"_

" _Soooo… let me get this straight…" Emerald paused the younger girl, "Your mother told you my dad was your uncle in a dream you had, which means we're cousins, correct?"_

 _Ruby merely nodded, "Well… yeah."_

" _That's a bit sudden," Emerald commented, quite surprised, "But… if it's true, then you're the best cousin that I could've ever asked for."_

 _Ruby's eyes welled with tears of joy, "Do you think he would mind if I started calling him Uncle Gabe when he wakes up?"_

 _Emerald shook her head, "I doubt it, Ruby. I think he would love it."_

 _Ruby's eyes once again began to water. Slowly, and careful not to disturb Gabriel any more than she already had, Ruby leaned over, planting a small, quick kiss on his cheek. She looked back over to Emerald, smiling, "Thank you. For being a friend. And for changing."_

 _Emerald returned the smile, "Same to you, Ruby. Thanks for being a good friend to me. And if I'm honest, I guess I always wanted to leave Cinder, I just never dared to do it."_

 _Ruby cringed at the mention of Cinder, but there was no outburst like there was the first time she was mentioned in conversation, "Well, I'm glad you found it when you did."_

 _The two embraced each other in a hug. As the girls did, Emerald said, "Now, let's get you going. I don't think you want your dad catching up to you and grounding you."_

 _With that, Ruby said her final goodbye, the two walking out of the room. Team JNPR was waiting downstairs, finishing up their hot chocolate. Jaune looked up at the two girls walking down the stairs and nodded, "So are we heading out?"_

" _Yeah… I'm ready to go," Ruby nodded. With that, all five of the soon to be travellers got up and walked to the door, where Emerald hugged each one goodbye, waving them all farewell and sending them on their way._

 _Emerald closed the door slowly, walking back upstairs to her father's bedside. She sat down next to his bed, quietly whispering in his ear, "Don't worry, dad. They'll be alright. I promise."_

 _And as she looked up, Emerald could swear she saw him smile. It was only slight, barely noticeable, but it was there._

* * *

 _Earth…_

Nearly one whole year. Ten months or so.

That was how long it had been since Alpha disappeared.

Eight months.

That was how long it had taken for the top engineering minds on planet Earth to almost complete a fully functional Warp rift to travel the distance to wherever Remnant is.

Funnily enough, it was also the exact amount of time it took to figure out exactly where Remnant is in relation to Earth.

It was also the amount of time it took for Summer to stop being even more depressed than usual.

From what Geist gathered, whatever she had seen on the other side was quite traumatizing, which Summer would later confirm by drinking around half a barrel of alcohol, muttering on and on about how his arm came off and puking for the better part of a day, approximately once a week. After five months, she seemed to have returned to normal, (She confided to Bradford that she had a dream where she spoke to her daughter), only dipping in and out of bouts of hysteria a few times since. Even then, her episodes of mania were mainly just her remembering what had transpired. Each time, it was more or less just her muttering on about his arm.

She also told Bradford that Gabriel had lost his arm during a fight, one that she saw and could do next to nothing about. Overall, the months since Summer's use of the amplification device were quite hectic for both herself and for everyone around her. Bradford assumed emergency command for the months following the incident, Vahlen and Tygan had been hard at work constructing the finished, full-scale warp rift generator and Lily…

Lily was working on a tank.

Also known as the Ironclad Mark 1 Heavy-assault tank, the vehicle came to mind after XCom high command realized that, while rapid response teams were always useful, heavy armour was also always appreciated. Not that a SPARK couldn't do just as well, but tanks were often better for holding lines than a two and a half meter tall robot. Mainly, the Ironclad was a mobile weapons platform, with armaments ranging from Anti-Infantry weapons such as Elerium-based Gatling cannons, which were basically just the size up from Elerium Cannons that infantry used, to two twin missile launchers and a massive Elerium Lance as its big gun. Initially, the Lance used on the tank was supposed to be an artillery piece but shrunk down, it fits nicely with the Ironclad.

At nearly 15 meters long with its main turret and armour thick enough to shrug off high powered bombs, the Ironclad represented a step in a different direction for Xcom doctrine. Where previous focuses were placed on mobility and the ability to be anywhere when situations called, without the immediate threat of The Elders, XCom had now decided to focus more on lessening human casualties. Also, the Ironclad would be exceptionally helpful in their next campaign, that being Remnant, where heavy tanks were sorely lacking.

Also, Lily wanted to make a tank. So she made a tank.

Between her bouts with the tank designs, Lily had also figured out how the synthesizer aboard the Avenger worked, after finally decoding some of the Elder's language. Upon doing so, the design was replicated across the world, giving rise to even faster re-construction efforts and ensuring that supplies could be created and distributed with ease. The matter-energy converters onboard the Avenger were quickly popularized around the world, used in the creation of food, building materials, anything that could be imagined. While not nearly as efficient as original aboard the Avenger, which only require the ships pre-installed Elerium generator to function, each one was a substantial boost to production. Over the few months since the replication, re-construction efforts have increased ten-fold, with basically every major city on Earth at a completion percentage of 65 or higher.

On top of that, more and more people had decided to join the military, with the total military force capping out at three million service members, two million of which were still in the four-month-long basic training programs set up by XCom, half finishing in a month, the other finishing in two. Finally, the remaining one million currently ready to take up arms.

After the Elders had been kicked off of Earth, there was a massive spike in the military population, with half a million people joining each month, the growth lasting for six months or so. Soon, the peak died down, with some estimating that 5800 people enlisted a week, though Summer had made it a point to keep the number from passing four million at the current state, as to not overburden the militaries' command.

With the increase in military and industrial assets at their disposal, the XCom command had also requested the production of more SPARK units, which were being produced in tandem with Ironclad tanks. While there was a section of the population that was definitely concerned about XCom's growing military presence at basically every corner of the globe, Bradford had gone on record saying that, "XCom is not a government, we're an international military agency. We never claimed to be a government. All we are doing is protecting humanity, as is our mission."

Speaking of governments, Earth was completely unified. Now under the leadership of the United Earth Federation, or UEF for short, humanity on Earth could finally be seen as a united species. From the capital in Rome, the UEF was responsible for continuing the rebuilding processes, trade, construction of new cities, etc. Almost everyone saw this as a step in the right direction, as after witnessing the Elder's invasion of Earth, the populace was much more inclined to co-operation. Even religious groups had put aside their differences. On top of the advances made in technology and unity as a result of the Elders, the UEF was also planning on starting a much more expansive space program, already planning on sending people to Luna and shortly after that, Mars, to start up permanent operations on the two planets.

And while XCom was technically under the command of the UEF, it was so only in technicality. In a statement closer to the truth, XCom had, over a brief period, more or less evolved into a separate and primarily military entity, charged with maintaining the peace and managing all facets of the military as a whole. As such, Summer had a lot more stuff on her shoulders. Luckily for her sanity, Bradford was there to help alleviate many of the issues.

With that in mind, Summer had been successful in obtaining permission to send troops to Remnant once the Warp Rift generator was completed. As is a military's duty, she argued, that it was indeed necessary to aid those who could be called their brothers and sisters. She also argued that it would invalidate what XCom was formed to do, which is, was and will forever be to protect humanity, no matter where it is.

And because the Grimm technically are an extinction-level threat, at least to this other humanity, the UEF is allowing for XCom to divert military assets to aiding Remnant. That being said, all the troops would have to be transported to the other side, meaning that large amounts of flying transport vehicles would have to be produced.

Lily apparently found a solution to that as well, successfully designing and test flying the first Human-made craft powered by Elerium reactors using Elerium repulsor engines. While they were similar in design to the Avenger, these troop transports were slightly larger and lacked the same Science facilities of the original, opting to replace them with more soldier transportation quarters instead. This allowed for an increase in troop-carrying capacities. The maximum capacity of each being approximately five hundred soldiers in a single trip, including around twenty-five SPARK units. With all that in mind, twenty were commissioned to allow the steady transportation of troops to the front lines. At nearly three hundred and fifty meters long, they would bring hell to any sorry Grimm that would dare come in their way.

Once the generator is complete, the transportation of troops could begin. And Earth would march to war.

Was Summer happy about all this? In some ways, yes, she was. She was going home, after all.

Ture, it wasn't the best home to go back to, but it was home nonetheless. She'd get to go home, see her daughters again, see her husband, her brother, her parents.

But Remnant wasn't the same anymore. The Grimm were always a threat, no matter what, Beacon was destroyed, and Vale was probably falling apart at the seams. Her home was never, ever, going to be the same again. It was scarred too much.

And now she was bringing an army to scar it even more. With the new transport ships and the overabundance of willing soldiers, there would most likely be ten thousand or more pairs of boots on the ground, with many, many more ready to reinforce. Add to that the number of SPARKs that had been produced and Summer was going to be making planetfall with an army armed to the teeth and more than willing to fight.

The plan to take back Remnant from the Grimm, Code name: Light the Dark, was quite simple.

Once the Warp Rift came online, The Avenger would go through for preliminary scanning, followed by half the transport vessels. These vessels would ferry over their soldiers and SPARK while the other half would bring the equipment and materials for lodgings and base defences, quickly getting the soldiers set up in a position they could defend.

The next phase would involve the other half of the soldiers, SPARK, and materials coming through the rift, allowing for the Remnant Expeditionary Force to establish a firmer foothold on the planet. At this point, the number of human soldiers should total to ten thousand, while the SPARK would amount to around 500. At this point, Fort Rift will most likely be done in another month or so of construction.

The third phase would involve the transportation of heavy artillery batteries and Ironclad tanks to help reinforce.

Once that was complete, phase four would start, and Alpha, as well as any other significant assets, would be found and brought to Fort Rift.

Phase five is the reclaim, reinforce and hold stage. Two thousand troops each would be dispatched to go to each of the four major cities, being Vale, Mistral, Vacuo and Atlas, to help reinforce those areas. Vale would be the most difficult to pull off, as it has already fallen, but the other three should be easier to keep under control. At this time, twelve of the transports would divide off to go help with the movement of heavier equipment and troops. The other eight would ferry more reinforcements to Fort Rift daily. In total, the forces of Earth should total one-hundred thousand by the beginning of the final major offensive. . This phase will also occur for all major settlements outside the big four.

Finally, after all is said and done, with the kingdoms and the significant settlements secured, an offensive can begin, which is phase six. The Grimmlands are notoriously challenging to locate, but it will probably take months too actually secure everything, and given how fast scientists can work when motivated, Summer had no doubt they would be able to work out the location.

The actual offensive is still in planning phases, though from her recollection, Summer could conclude that it had a lot to do with bombs, bombs and more bombs. Oh yeah, heavy tanks too.

Summer groaned, falling flat on her bed in the Avenger. For the past few days, she had been adamantly working with Shen and the engineering crew to design an optimal layout for the finished base. The base itself drew on designs from old citadels and would most likely be constructed on a hill using concrete, and Eronium reinforced gates.

She found every second painful to sit through, primarily because she hadn't slept very well for the past few days. Previously, she had thought about taking some sleeping medication but decided against it because the side effects weren't very acceptable for her. During some of her off duty time, she took warm baths in hopes of calming her body down enough to get a good rest, but that also never seemed to work.

Summer's head lolled to the side, looking over at a framed picture that sat next to her bed, one of her and Alpha, all sitting in their old RV half a decade ago. She smiled, remembering that day, as it was when they all celebrated both her and Gabriel's birthday. Angela had tried to make the best cake she could, but with what materials they had on hand, the cake wasn't that large. But it was enough for her and Gabe.

Her hand reached out, softly touching the photo as she smiled. She stood up, walked over to her drawer and pulled out her cloak. Fishing through one of the inner pockets, she found two pictures, the first of Ruby and Yang, with herself, Tai and Qrow sitting together under a tree near their house, the second being the picture of Team STRQ when they were younger.

Gingerly, she placed them next to her framed picture, staring at them all together for a second before changing into her sleepwear, shutting off the lights and pulling her covers over herself. As she tried to fall asleep, Summer felt herself once again drawn to the photos. She ignited a small silver light on her fingertip, looking at them one more time. Her mind filled with happiness as she reminded herself that it was only a little while now.

" _Soon, Ruby,"_ She thought as sleep began to take hold over her body finally, a single tear dripping from her eye, " _I'll be home… soon…"_

" _I promise…"_

* * *

 _ **I'm back... Sorry about the late post, Uni is bogging me down, as is Destiny and Shadowkeep, work, University... existential dread...**_

 _ **Meh, the last one's okay.**_

 _ **Also, a bit of an explanation, the UEF is an idea I and a friend of mine at work had a while back, he's basically my idea guy. He suggested that Earth unify post kicking the Elders out.**_

 _ **And the Ironclad is there because I want a tank. If you wanna know the sort of shape and make of the tank, imagine the T-740 for COD Advanced Warfare, but on treads.**_

 _ **And the Alien language was cracked because I need a reason for Earth humans to get as advanced as they do. And they are planning on going to Luna and Mars because space is cool and I want them to go there.**_

 _ **Anyway, R &R **_


	14. Roses and Thorns

_**Alrighty... I finally decided to finish this chapter... Between work, University, playing Destiny with my clan and this, I don't think I actually have time for a social life. But fuck that, I'ma gonna do what I wanna do and this is what I wanna do. So here you go.**_

 _ **Anyway, Volume seven is starting off okay. I personally think Bumblebee is a good ship, nothing particularly wrong with it, I just feel that it has been a bit forced. I'm going to try and rectify that with this series in any number of ways, but it's going to be hard. Also, for those who haven't seen Episode four, there's good stuff, mainly the end. I like the chat Ruby and Qrow had.**_

 _ **In regards to the reviews, Guest, thank you for your insightful review, and I hope that this continues the trend.**_

 _ **Anyway, I don't own squat and I hope you enjoy.**_

* * *

" _No rose is complete without its thorns."_

* * *

War changed. When the Elders came, war changed. People weren't safe; there was no grave for you on some solitary hill. Only death, death and more death.

But we learned, we adapted, we changed with war. As we bleed on the ground, as we lost brothers and sisters to an endless tide, we altered our perception of what war meant.

When we warred with each other, humanity was never really in any danger. We are all human after all, and if a war could bring death to all of us, we would show restraint. Thus, war never changed

But then it did.

The Elders came, and it was no longer about merely fighting a war between cultures or ideas. No longer just countries warring over petty things like resources or land.

It was a full-scale war for survival. One that, if we had failed, we would have all perished, and humanity would be but another footnote in history, barely that.

But we didn't fail.

We won.

Through blood, sweat and tears, we pushed our nemesis' and their thralls off of Earth, off of Terra. Off of the Cradle of Humanity. We became stronger, sharper, like a honed knife, or an axe that had recently been reintroduced to a grindstone.

And we were united. For once in our long history as a species, we were united.

When we used to look to the stars, we would find nothing more than wonder, splendour. A grandiose display of all that there is and all that there can be. We thought it welcoming, the infinite cosmos, that one day, we would ascend beyond our earthly constraints and join others like us.

Then we learned the truth.

The galaxy is not as forgiving; the beings beyond our world are not welcoming. We learned the hard way about what it truly meant to fight for survival against impossible odds.

We were scared, and we will bear those scars till the day the last human to ever walk this galaxy dies.

However, it seemed we had more to learn, for there were more.

Other humans, seeded onto a world by the ones who had tested us, who had threatened us with extinction.

They, too, were also fighting against the inevitability of their own extinction.

That was something we couldn't allow.

So we won't. We will save our people, all of them.

No matter where; no matter the cost.

We will save them.

 _In Vigilo confido._

* * *

" **IN VIGILO CONFIDO!"** came the resounding reply, a chorus of ten thousand men and women, a shout with enough force to pierce the heavens. They delivered a booming shockwave to whatever god resided up there.

"You are all dismissed," Summer spoke, her speech concluded. With that, all the soldiers before her left to go to their quarters. Half marched to the transports, the other half marching to the barracks. She turned around, returning up the ramp of the Avenger. Just a week until the completion of the generator, a few weeks before the armies of Earth would march to save Remnant. Around a month until she would see her family and her friends again.

But seeing the people she cares about again was beside the point, it wouldn't matter if Earth's army weren't able to tip the scales in their favour. Even with the number of soldiers going through, even with all the armaments, they might still not be ready. It wasn't the soldiers weren't skilled, after all, each one was vetted for skill levels before even potentially being able to embark on the mission. It wasn't that they didn't have the armour, most if not all of them were equipped with the beam based weaponry and Warden armour. It wasn't about the possibility of the Ironclads and the SPARKs being overrun.

It was just the amount of enemies.

Summer kept to heart what her parents had told her at a young age, that the Grimm were unending, that they kept coming. That for everyone you felled, another dozen would be birthed to take their fallen brethren's place. That they would always adapt, always change. Their war wouldn't be impossible, just difficult to complete.

"Commander? Do you have a moment?"

Summer turned around at the sound of Lily's voice, smiling pleasantly, "Sure I do. I've got nothing else planned for today. What's up?"

"Do you, perchance, think that we could up the production of Firestorm interceptors?"

Summer scratched her chin, "Don't we already have a few dozen?"

"Ehh…" Lily shrugged, "It's debatable. They're all in varying states of disrepair, so I don't think using any of them for official dogfights is a particularly good idea."

"Fair."

"And on top of that," Lily added, "Their weaponry was mainly based around how they had to go up against UFOs. Therefore, most of their weaponry was directed towards piercing the Energy shielding and their armour. From these… Grimm, which don't have nearly as much armour, I was thinking about using things like miniguns and micro-missiles."

"That would probably work," Summer replied, "Do we have pilots that are capable?"

"Around one hundred that have been taking the old ones for some test spins," Lily confirmed.

"Yeah…" Summer mused, "In that case, I'd say get them to make a squadron of twelve for every two thousand ground troops. So around sixty total in deployment at once. And tell them to make triple that in backup, we may need to cycle them for extensive repairs that might need to occur."

"Gotcha, Commander, I'll get to it," Lily said as she began to walk away, "Oh, one more thing before I go off and do this."

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Well, Merek said that Annette and their kids were coming from Serenity to visit," Lily explained, "Apparently, neither of them could wait to see you or their father again. Merek wanted you to tag along. They're landing at pad 14."

Summer chuckled, "Alrighty then, I'll go see them."

With that, the two separated. Lily went walking off to the Engineering command and Summer to pad 14. She couldn't help but smile, remembering Serenity.

At its core, Serenity was a resistance encampment situated in Algonquin National Park, in Canada. During the nearly 16 years that it had stood, Serenity was never occupied by Advent. Its population was that of around five thousand at its height, around two years ago. It was quite lovely there, and the people were equally so. Most worked on farms or workshops. That said, all of them were trained in the use of weapons for both hunting and military purposes. It wasn't uncommon for some to call Serenity the "Last free city on Earth." During the war, it was.

She and Alpha had been there many times over the past decade, maybe thirty times total. Most likely, though, it was more than thirty times, but by this point, she lost count. Whenever they did visit, though, Summer always made sure to visit Annette and Merek to help her with their two children, the elder of the two being fifteen and the younger being ten.

She reached pad 14, where she saw Merek standing to the side, obviously talking to Annette on his datapad. Summer called out to him, "Merek! You wanted to see me?"

He looked up, "Well, more like Jake and Olivia did. And Annette too."

"Just admit you wanted to see me," Summer teased.

The Australian shrugged and passed her the datapad, where she saw both Jake and Olivia staring back at her.

" _Hello Miss Summer!"_ the young of the two children beamed on the screen, " _Got any cookies?"_

" _Olivia…"_ Summer heard Annette sigh, " _Summer, and I will make you and your brother some cookies later. But I'm not making the mistake of letting you have sweets before dinner a second time."_

" _That had nothing to do me, mom"_ Jake mumbled.

"Hey, you two," Summer bit back a chuckle, "How has your day been? Did you both get a good sleep?"

Jake huffed, " _You sound like mom."_

"Well, I am one," Summer said, "How was your night?"

" _They both slept like logs,"_ Annette replied from off-screen, " _But SOMEONE woke me up at five in the morning."_

" _Hey, I couldn't sleep, sue me,"_ Jake bit back.

" _So you pulled out your father's hunting rifle and did some target practice,"_ Annette continued.

"Oh, did he now?" Summer slyly smirked, "Looks like someone was a bad boy… and that someone isn't getting any cookies unless they apologize."

Jake's ears perked up, " _Ummm… it… fine. I'm sorry, mom."_

"Alright then," Summer said, "You'll get cookies. But only after dinner."

" _Will I get cookies to, Miss Summer?"_ Olivia piped up.

Summer laughed, "Of course you will…"

Just then, the sound of engines rumbling as a skyranger landed down on the pad. The skyranger touched down, it's a back door opened and out rushed Olivia, leaping into her father's open arms.

"Didyhamissme? Didya? Didya?" the girl excitedly said, "Didyha, daddy?"

Merek laughed, bringing his daughter into a tight embrace, "Of course I did, kiddo."

Jake was out of the skyranger next. Merek shifted Olivia, so he was holding her with one hand, "Oi! Get your butt over here, Jake, I haven't seen you in almost a year!"

"It's been four months," Jake quickly corrected.

Merek scoffed, "Four months, a year, doesn't matter. Get your butt over here."

"Fine," Jake sighed, coming over to his father and wrapping an arm around him, "Good to see you, dad."

"That's m'boy," Merek ran his hand through his son's hair, "Now, where's that mother of yours?"

"I'm right here, darling," Annette said, walking down the ramp of the skyranger, "How's the last few months been?"

"Fine, if just a wee bit tiring," the Australian soldier laughed, "I've been whipping the new recruits into shape. The ones who were selected to join XCom that is."

"That's good," Annette said with a smile, "And yourself, Summer?"

Summer shrugged, "About the same. There's just been more administrative stuff for me to do. Luckily, Bradley was here to help, so nothing was all that overwhelming," she smiled at French psion, "And how have the past few months treated you, Annette?"

"Well enough, I suppose," Annette responded, "I mean, I've had to take care of these two rascals…"

"HEY! That was mean, mommy."

Annette glanced over at her daughter, who was currently pouting in her father's arms, "Yes, yes, I'm sorry," she turned back to Summer, "Anyway, Serenity's still standing, and I think most people are thinking about moving back to the big cities and letting Algonquin regrow to its former glory."

"Are you guys planning on moving?" Summer questioned. After all, the park had been their home for nearly as long as their children were old. It was the only home both Jake and Olivia had ever known.

"We'd probably go back every so often," Annette explained, "But living in the city is just easier. For all of us."

"And on top of that," she continued, "I've always liked the city more. Everything's just closer, easier to access. What can I say, I'm a city girl."

Summer nodded as she watched Merek walk off with his two children, heading for the Avenger, "I've never really liked living in cities. Close to them is fine, but I've never liked the noise and the smell."

"Did you grow up on a farm or something?"

"No," Summer shook her head, "More like a big mansion in the middle of nowhere. There was a lot of wilderness around my old home. Anyway, you wanna go grab a drink?"

Annette nodded, "I don't see why not. Lead the way, Commander."

* * *

 _Ruby, somewhere on Anima… A few weeks before the UEF arrives on Remnant…_

 _ **(AN: This takes place instead of the "Jaune is training with a Pyrrha recording." scene from the show.)**_

It was midnight in the middle of a dark forest. Ruby and the rest of Team JNPR had set up camp at nine, cooked and eaten dinner at ten and gone to sleep at eleven. At least, everyone but Ruby did. She couldn't sleep.

Was it the shared tent that they all had that what was making her uncomfortable? Not particularly. It might have been the fact that Pyrrha and Jaune were exceptionally…

Exceptionally…

Very damn close. That's what they were, close.

Sometimes too close.

Just last night, Ruby heard them sneak off into the woods. She heard them doing… things… that she had read about in Blake's books.

And all Ren could say was, "Rabbits."

FUCKING RABBITS?

That's all he could possibly say to comment on the situation.

Ruby had no problem with their personal lives, if they wanted to do it, that was their choice and prerogative. But fucking hell, they didn't have to get down all the time.

No, Ruby couldn't sleep because she didn't want to sleep. She was training. Hard.

During the two or so months that she had been awake before she and Team JNPR made their hasty getaway, she had brought it to the attention of Darren and Anne that she had occasionally shot lightning out of her fingers. They then did a test and determined that she was psionic, like themselves and gave her some ways to train.

She started out small, creating blasts of energy, which was referred to by them as a Soulfire, on holographic targets that Darren and Anne had set up. She'd picked up the skill quite easily, as well as picking up the ability to create Volts, though only to a level of a taser. After that, Darren had suggested to train on her own and get to learn her own psionic power a bit better. So she did.

Ruby had trained for the past two months, since she first discovered her power, teaching herself a few cool ways to utilize her newfound power.

The first of which was something she liked to call a Psionic whip. Which is a short way of saying she made a long energy string that she could control with her mind. She even cut down some trees with it, quite easily, in fact. She also found that she could pull objects towards her with the whip if she didn't put as much power in it.

This was the ability she would be training with tonight.

In the center of a clearing of trees, she stood. Ruby thrust her hand out, and a silver strand of energy shot out from her palm, piercing through a tree's center as if it didn't exist. Willing the whip to wrap around the tree, Ruby watched as the strand flew around the trunk of the tree. With a sharp pull, she brought the entire tree crashing down.

Ruby smiled, willing the psionic rope to slash down another two trees, which the rope did, tearing through them with a clean and precise cut. Spinning around, she commanded the whip to vertically bisect a tree, which it did quite handley, the two halves falling down in perfect symmetry to each other.

Ruby then threw the rope to a nearby boulder, commanding the whip to wrap around the sizable rock. With a mighty grunt and a heave unlike any she had previously performed, Ruby launched the boulder through the forest, turning dozens of trees to a pulp. She smiled at her ever-impressive work, continuing with her bout of whipping.

After training with the whip for an hour or so, Ruby thought it time to practice utilizing Volts. She closed her eyes, concentrating on pushing energy into the palm of her hand. She slowly felt the buildup of power start to reach a breaking point. Opening one of her eyes, she saw the silver-coloured electricity dancing along with her fingertips, originating from a ball of pent up energy hovering just above her palm.

"It's…" she whispered to herself, "It's beautiful."

She flicked her wrist, sending the lightning arcing out towards another section of the forest. Unlike her whip, however, the lightning fizzled and died, doing little to no damage to any of the trees she had targeted. At best, she singed some of the leaves.

"Damn it," Ruby sighed.

Bringing her hand up, Ruby tried again, focusing the energy into her palm. This time, she tried forcing more energy through to her palm, building up a greater amount of power. More electricity arced from the silver orb that she had created. Ruby growled, sending the lightning she created at another nearby tree. Like the last time, there was little physical damage done to the tree itself, though there were more burn marks on the tree.

"Come on!" Ruby shouted, quite annoyed, "This shouldn't be that hard!"

Again she tried, this time fueling her power with her annoyance. Unlike her past attempts this night, the lightning was quite a bit more energetic. Now, it no longer was confined to the palm of her hand, the bolts striking the ground and incinerating some patches of grass around her. Ruby screamed, thrusting her hand out one last time, a massive bolt of silver lightning striking her target, a middle-sized redwood, kicking dirt up into a cloud of smoke and dust.

When the cloud settled, the tree was smouldering, split into many smaller pieces. There was little to nothing left of the redwood. Ruby looked on at the destruction that she had caused, then down at her hand, which was shaking a bit.

Ruby placed her shaking hand against her chest, "That was overkill."

She pulled out her scroll from her pocket, seeing that it was two in the morning at this point. She had been training for two or so hours. Realizing that, she decided to make her way back to camp. After all, they did have to walk for who knows how long if they were going to make it to Mistral in any sort of timely fashion.

As she began to walk back to the group's little encampment, Ruby heard a soft thud land behind her. Turning on her heel, she ignited the psionic whip she had with her, as Crescent Rose was still in the tent.

" **Now, now, no need for that,"** a harsh, masculine voice said, " **You can put that little whip away."**

Ruby nervously looked around, trying to identify the person who spoke, but to no avail. Suddenly, a black mist, very similar to what Grimm turned into when they perished, drew together, coming into the form of a tall man wearing a black trench-coat with glowing red eyes and a bone-white mask.

Ruby flicked her wrist, sending her whip at the man, fully expecting it to cut him down, in the same manner, it did the trees earlier.

He caught the whip as if it were nothing.

" **That's rude, little girl,"** the man calmly said, " **I just came here to talk…"**

Ruby tried to pull the rope out of his hands, "You're Grimm."

" **And you're attentive."**

"And you sound like you gargle acid."

The man-Grimm thing chuckled, " **You've got spunk, child. Now please, dissipate this little rope so that we can talk like civil beings that we are."**

Ruby did as the man requested retracting the whip to her hands, refusing to drop her guard completely. The man sighed, " **Better than nothing, I guess."**

"You wanted to talk," Ruby muttered, "So talk."

"Very well," he said, leaning himself against a tree, " **I came here to give you a little warning, courtesy of my mistress."**

Ruby cocked her eyebrow, "Your mistress… wait…" her eyes widened with hate, "YOU MEAN CINDER?!"

The man was silent for a short second before he began bursting out in laughter, " **Cinder? Cinder Fall? You must be joking. If she was my mistress, I would have taken her life long ago myself."**

The man's laughter died down, " **No, child. I serve a greater power, the same one Cinder does."**

"Then why are you giving me a warning?" Ruby questioned, "Cinder wants me dead."

" **I don't give a damn about what Cinder wants,"** the man replied, " **To be completely fair, neither does our mistress. But that's beside the point. I'm here to tell you that, soon, one of her minions will attack you and your friends. He'll try to capture you and specifically you. Don't let him."**

Ruby was silent in confusion at the man's words, "Why… why are you telling me this?"

" **Because she wants you to get stronger and beating up one of her minions will do just that. After all, a fight with the odds as drastically tipped in her favour as they are wouldn't be much of a fight,"** the man explained, " **And she wants you to realize that you're ideals are those of a fool's. Sooner or later, you'll be forced into a position where you have to choose. Sacrifice yourself, or stand by and watch as your friends suffer?"**

" **So do you still want to be a hero?"** he continued, " **Because heroes never win. Heroes die. You can't save everyone, little rose, without losing a piece of yourself in the process. I learned that lesson the hard way."**

"I can save everyone," Ruby blurted out, "And I will."

The man chuckled in dismay, " **You try that, girly. Just remember the warning. Remember it well."**

"Oh, and one more thing," he said as his body began turning to smoke, " **When you get in touch with that uncle of yours, tell him that I'd like to go for a round."**

With those last words, the man disappeared, leaving Ruby with her thoughts. Was he lying? Why was he helping them if he and Cinder were working together, and Cinder had tried to kill her and Weiss just earlier this year?

Who was this mistress?

Who was he?

She returned back to the camp, only to find the fire relight with Jaune and Pyrrha sitting near it, huddled together in a blanket. Pyrrha was resting her head on Jaune's shoulder, her eyes half-closed. Almost as soon as she entered the camp's clearing, Pyrrha's eyes shot open.

"Ruby!" Pyrrha cried, "Where were you? Why didn't you take Crescent Rose? Do you have any idea how worried we were?"

Ruby nodded, "Yeah… sorry, Pyrrha. I just wanted to practice, clear my head."

"And you didn't think to take your weapon?" Pyrrha questioned

Just as Ruby was about to respond, Jaune sighed, "Pyrrha, stop berating Ruby. She just went out to practice with those weird mind powers she has now."

Pyrrha pouted, "I'm just concerned…"

"Concerned? Concerned about what?" Ruby questioned, "Guys, I'm fine. I just had to go…"

"Ruby, stop with the bullshit," Jaune cut the reaper off, "I know, Pyrrha knows, we all know. Something's bothering you, and we're worried because you might do something stupid and get yourself hurt. Or worse, killed."

"Guys, it's nothing," Ruby insisted, "I'm fine."

"Ruby, you almost lost an uncle you never knew you had," Pyrrha interjected, "That would screw anyone up. We just don't want you to make a mistake you're going to regret."

"I'm. Fine."

"Ruby, you're not f…"

"I'M FINE, JAUNE!" Ruby shouted, causing the two members of Team JNPR to flinch. Ruby saw them do so, and tears started to well up in her eyes, "I… I just don't know what to do anymore… I don't know if I can do this anymore…"

"I know it's hard right now, Ruby. believe me, I do." Pyrrha said, shifting herself closer to Jaune and patting the ground next to herself, "Come on. Sit with us, it might help get you out of whatever state of mind you're in."

Ruby smiled softly and moved over to where Jaune and Pyrrha were sitting. She wrapped herself up in the warm and fuzzy blanket. She stared at the fire that was burning in front of her, sniffing back some of her tears from earlier.

"Thanks…" she muttered, "For sticking with me."

Pyrrha stroked the young girl's head, "That's what friends are for."

* * *

 _Pines Farm… around the same time…_

 _ **(An: Last one, I promise. I always thought that Oscar was slightly too young. Thus I made his age now more in-line with that of Ruby's and his height more inline with Ren's. Reason's forthcoming. And yes, I made up Ozpin's First name, and it is Issac, as Monty once said that his name would be one of the few that wouldn't follow the colour naming rule. It is also one of the names of The Wizard of Oz.)**_

Oscar was a normal kid.

Yeah… normal is definitely one way of describing his current predicament.

It was also completely incorrect.

Oscar was just a farm boy, slated to one day inherit the said farm from his family, hopefully, get married and continue the tradition. So why in the name of all things holy was he getting these weird as fuck memories?

It started a few months ago when he woke up in a cold sweat after having a weird dream about a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman and a silver-haired man. They had four children, all girls, who looked, for all intents and purposes, nearly identical to their mother. However, before the dream could progress all that far along, he had been jolted awake.

He'd been having dreams for about three months before he started hearing the voices. He heard hundreds of them, some speaking in old and dead languages, some more modern in their tone and diction. He heard one that sounded like a commanding wartime officer, another that sounded like a king addressing his people. But the loudest, of all of them, sounded like a kind and wise mentor.

A man he heard about on Television.

A man who was supposed to be dead.

Headmaster Issac Ozpin.

Oscar heard things, saw things, felt things. Things that had never actually happened to him.

He saw a woman, draped in a black dress, skin as pale as ash, veins as dark as coal, eyes as red as blood.

He felt a hundred deaths course through his mind as if it had all happened to him just yesterday.

He saw a group of three, no, four people, no wait, five people, each wearing a white cloak, two men and three women. The first of the men was nearly six foot six and fairly muscular at that, the second. On the taller man's right side, there stood a short woman, five foot seven, by his guesses. To his left stood the other man, six foot four, and to the shorter woman's right stood another woman, around her height. In front of them, all stood a relatively petite girl, who looked to be around his age, if not slightly younger, standing at five foot two. Of the things he could clearly see from their faces, Oscar notes several things.

All the women looked remarkably similar, as did the men. That being said, the tall man and the woman he stood next to seemed to be the eldest, as he could see some faint wrinkles on their faces.

The next thing he noted was their collective eye colour. Every one of them had silver irises.

Finally, he noticed that they all had a collective glow to them. Not in the sense that they were physically shiny or anything, more in the sense that they all radiated a kind of light that felt like the sun on a midsummers day. A glow so intense that it dimmed all things surrounding it, one so perfect that everything else seemed to dull and become… wrong.

Oscar was sure that he was going mad, nothing made sense to him now. His once blissful sleep now tormented by nightmares of the memories of some long-dead people, ones who he never knew, who he could never have known.

He was unsure, but he went about his days as normally as he could, doing his chores and jobs as he would have done when his mind wasn't nearly as fucked as it is in the present. Such as digging trenches in the ground with a hoe (the tool).

" _I'm sorry, Michael…"_

Oscar dropped his hoe, gazing around for the source of the voice. The world began to slip away, drawing him into a memory of… Ozpin's, this time. He appeared to be having a conversation with a man, the same tall man in that dream he had those months ago.

 _"I've tried everything,"_ The headmaster said, _"I know it is hard to believe, but it is the truth. Your daughter is…"_

" _Bull. Shit."_ The man replied, abruptly cutting Ozpin off, " _You and I both feel it. We both know it. If she had died, her light would still stain the ground where she fell. As it stands, Oz, it isn't there. She is still out there."_

The vision of Ozpin furrowed his brow, " _Believe what you may, but your daughter is gone, Michael. She is gone, and she will most likely never come back."_

The man, Michael, clenched a fist at his side, " _Fine, let's just pretend you are right. What of her daughter?"_

" _When she's seventeen, she can apply for Beacon as well,"_ Ozpin replied, " _You and Mariam can't keep doing this forever, you know. Fighting back the armies that you do isn't easy, and sooner or later, there will need to be someone to take up that mantle from you two."_

 _"Then… What would you have me do, old friend?"_ Michael questioned, _"We won't be able to train her. She'll be helpless."_

" _She won't need training yet,"_ Ozpin assured.

Michael sighed, " _Then I expect that you will do everything in your power to keep her safe, will you not?"_

" _I will do any and everything within my power, yes,"_ the headmaster replied. At this point, Oscar was a bit more than confused. Who are these people they are talking about? It's obvious that they're this man's daughter and granddaughter, but still. They never mentioned names, nor any signifying features of either.

" _But will that be enough to keep her safe?"_ Michael questioned, " _You know how relentlessly our kind are hunted, especially by the servants of the Witch."_

" _I can assure you…"_

Michael slammed his fist down onto the table, splitting it down the center, " _If your assurances meant anything, my daughter would be at her home with her husband and brother-in-law, baking cookies for her daughter!"_

" _She did choose to take the mission, Michael,"_ Ozpin replied, calmly sipping his mug. He was obviously annoyed that his table was cracked in half, but he chose to keep that under control.

" _While you neglected to give her all the available information on said mission,"_ Michael countered, " _She chose to take on the mission on incomplete information."_

Ozpin looked down at his mug, " _But, according to you, she isn't dead, so I do not see the issue. She will eventually find her way back to us, will she not?"_

" _I see a very large issue in that, Ozpin,"_ Michael retorted, his voice slowly rising with every word, every syllable he spoke punctuated as to make every word exceptionally clear, " _She is still not here. Which means she is still not spending time with her family, who she should be living with right now."_

Michael turned to walk away, " _For your sake, old friend, you best pray to whatever god you hold dear that she survives and finds her way home. Because if not…"_

" _No amount of reincarnation will save you from me."_

With that, Oscar fell out of his dazed and dreamy state, onto the half tilled field that he had so diligently been working on a moment ago.

"Oww…" he groaned, "My head…"

"Oscar!" his aunt called from inside the barn house, "Dinner is ready!"

"I'll be there in a second!" Oscar replied, reaching for his hoe, "I just have to finish the field!"

* * *

 _Emerald…_

"Emerald! Dinner's ready!"

"Coming!"

Emerald tugged on her Kusarigama (Basically Kama/sickles but with chains), which was lodged in a tree. The blade slid free quite easily, leaving a small burn mark as she retracted the sickle blades to their holsters, flicking them back to their dormant state. Over the past little while, and with the help of Darren and Anne, she had managed to apply the same plasma blades to Thief's Respite as Ruby had to Crescent Rose, all the while extending the chain's range. Which was what she had been testing for the past few days, reaching up to twenty meters from her standing position.

Coming inside through the back door of the house, she saw Angela sitting at the table with Tai, Yang, Darren and Anne, the latter two sitting next to one another and the former two across from each other at the end of the left side of the table closest to her.

"Hehe… Sorry, I'm late…" Emerald nervously scratched her head, "I was just practicing…"

"No worries," Darren replied, "Angie and Anne were getting finished up anyways."

Yang patted the seat next to her, "Come on, sit down."

"You're a lot more cherry then I remember," Emerald remarked, sitting next to the blonde brawler, "Has that therapy with Anne helped?"

"Yeah, it has," Yang replied as Angela brought out some baked salmon on a platter.

Despite at first being hesitant due to her nature as a vegetarian, Emerald had warmed up to eating fish every once and a while and had actually decided that she would start including it more in her diet. Every time her mother made any, it was absolutely delicious, a melt in your mouth level of absolute deliciousness.

As everyone filled their plates with the delectable fish, as well as other dishes of mixed beets, potatoes, a Caesar salad (Sans bacon, of course), as well as several other, smaller nibbly foods, Darren looked over to Yang and asked, "Don't you have that robot arm? Why don't you… y'know. Wear it?"

"Yeah, I do… Ironwood was nice like that," Yang said, looking down at her… lacking right side, "I just… I just don't know if I should actually put it on. I guess I'm just scared."

"Oh…" Darren shrugged, returning to eating his fish, "Scared of losing again?"

"Darren, I don't think now's the best time," Tai commented, trying his best to stop the other man from going too far down that rabbit hole.

"Dad, I'm fine. I…" Yang half-heartedly replied, "I'm still able to fight physically… I think. It's just that… I don't think I can do it mentally… I can't sleep, I have these dreams… ones where I didn't get to Blake in time… ones where I see what the world really thinks about me… I'm scared of it."

Yang paused, pondering her next words carefully, "The therapy is helping, thank you for that, Anne and I am slowly getting over the fact that I did lose an arm but… I dunno… I just don't think it'll ever be the same again…"

"That's the thing with PTSD, Yang," Anne said, looking directly into the young woman's lilac eyes, "You won't ever truly quote-unquote 'Get over it.' You won't ever really beat it, those memories will always exist, but you can stalemate it. Show it that you won't be bogged down by the past."

"Believe us when we say that PTSD is no easy thing to get over," Angela continued on her friend's train of thought, "But you can, trust me. You're tough, you can make it through this."

"Thanks…" Yang replied, smiling at the two older women.

The group continued dining, until Darren asked, "So Tai, any funny stories from your time at Beacon? I got some from Qrow."

"Well," Tai said through a bite of potatoes, "There was this one time where a bunch of people got drunk in second year… wait, was it third year? Yeah third and apparently, according to Summer, I got really angry at Glynda for having nicer hair than I did, Raven tried to pumble two or three other people into the dirt for making fun of her outfit and for whatever reason, Qrow woke up in a god damn tutu."

The entire table was silent and Tai decided to continue talking, "But that wasn't even the best part! Y'see, we had to do a presentation on the applications of some specific type of dust the next day for one of the old profs classes and Qrow decided to wear the damn tutu to class."

Darren coughed as Tai finished the story, "I'm sorry, but why do most of your funny stories about Beacon tend to involve Qrow and lady-like clothing?"

"Because the ones about his poetry and his jokes aren't funny to me," Tai replied, "Summer thought they were funny though, so there's that."

"Qrow did poetry?"

"Uncle Qrow did what?"

"Qrowetry?" Anne suggested, causing the table to combust with groans and some ever so small amount of laughter.

"Really, Anne?" Angela said through a slight sigh, "Qrowetry?"

Tai laughed, "I'm telling Qrow that one."

"Did Uncle Qrow actually write poetry?"

Tai shook his head, "No, but your mom and I teased him about it because he was a bit emo in first year and she told me he wrote emo poetry. I guess I was just a bit of an idiot but Summer didn't buy it."

"Was he emo?" Emerald questioned, while eating some string-beans.

"Nah, not really," Tai shrugged, "I mean, he didn't like hanging out with us nearly as much as Raven did. He didn't talk that much either. Come to think of it, Summer was the only person who could consistently drag him out."

Everyone shrugged at the response given by Tai, returning to eat. Shortly after everyone had finished eating their food, Angela, Darren and Anne got up to go and quiet the three babies in the living room while Tai took the dishes into the kitchen to set them in the dishwasher. As they did that, Emerald and Yang took that time to head upstairs.

"So, Yang, are you still planning on going to look for you mom?" Emerald questioned as they got to one of the landings.

Yang nodded, "Yeah, soon enough. I guess I just need to get in the right head-space to find her. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do to her if I ever got the chance to. Hug her? Beat the ever living shit out of her?"

"I feel like not beating the shit out of your mom would be a good idea," Emerald commented, "But then again, that's just my opinion. You do you."

"And then there's Blake."

"Oh… right… Blake. Yeah, she's still out there," the greenette muttered, "I haven't heard from her at all. Or heard about her, for that matter."

"Same," Yang replied, "I just wish she left anything, at all. Where she was going, how to find her. Anything, really."

Yang slumped against a wall, reminding Emerald of the blond's sister all those months ago, "I guess I just don't want to be left alone."

"You're not alone, Yang," Emerald smiled, "You've got everyone here. All of us are here to help you."

Yang was about to answer only for a groan to be heard down the hall.

From Gabriel's room.

The two young women looked at each other, "You heard that, right?" Emerald questioned, slowly rising upwards, "I'm not going crazy."

"Nope, I heard that too," Yang replied, reaching out to grab Emerald's hand, heaving herself to her feet.

Slowly, both Emerald and Yang made their way down the hall, careful not to make any loud noises. They reached the door to the room Gabriel was staying in, slowly and carefully opening the door. Slowly, Emerald peered into the darkened room, carefully inching the door open ever so slightly.

The inside was dark, the only light coming from the medical equipment that the room held, the soft blue hue of the screens illuminating only a small area. Emerald pulled her scroll from her pocket, turning on the flashlight and setting it to a lower setting. Motioning for Yang to follow her, the two crept in quietly, carefully trying to make as little noise as possible.

Soon, they reached the bed and Emerald shined her light onto her father's face.

"Ow…" the unconscious man mumbled, "Bright…"

Both the girls let out a slight, "Eep!" when they heard him speak. Gabriel's voice was raspy, strained, but still audible and understandable.

All Emerald managed to stutter out was a small, squeaky, "Dad?"

Gabriel groaned, "Hey Em… Yang… how long was I…"

Emerald was having none of that, wrapping her father in a hug, tears of joy streaming down her face and onto her father's shoulder. Gabriel slowly reached his arm around his adopted daughter, stroking the top of her head as the girl cried.

"Eight or so months," Yang replied, still surprised from Gabriel's sudden awakening, "Are you…"

"I'm… I'm fine, kid," Gabriel mumbled, patting his daughter's head, "Hey Em…"

When Emerald didn't respond and rather continued to hug him, Gabriel sighed and said, "Emerald… you can…" his words were interrupted with a cough, "Hug me later…"

"But I wanna hug you now," Emerald's muffled reply came.

Again, Gabriel sighed, "Fine. Yang, get over here."

Yang did as instructed, joining in the bearhug, "Good to have you back," she said.

"It's good… to be back," Gabriel replied, "Now could one… of you go and get Anne… to get this god-damn IV out of me…"

Both the girls nodded, as Emerald broke the hug only to rush downstairs shouting for Anne as she went. Yang stayed by Gabriel's side, informing the older man about what had transpired in the past eight or so months. Some of the news… he took less than well.

"She…" he coughed harshly, "DID WHAT!"

Yang shrugged, "Yeah… Ruby and Team JNPR up and left a little while ago."

"Damn it…" Gabriel muttered as he lay back down on his bed, "Anyway, how're you getting used to the arm?"

"It could be better," Yang replied, raising the stump that was once her right arm.

Coughing again, Gabriel gestured to his own left side, "Better off than I am. But hey, we're twins."

The two shared a laugh as Emerald returned to the room. Tailing her was literally everyone else in the house, save for the babies who were currently in cribs asleep. For her part, Angela was keeping at least some of her cool, but seeing as she hadn't seen her husband awake in two thirds of a year, it wouldn't last.

Anne was the first to move, as she was the one who was called up, moving over to Gabriel's right arm. Slowly she took the needle from the IV out, looking over at the nearby GREMLIN, "Asimov, give him a scan. Is he good to stand now?"

Emerald could see Angela silently praying as the little drone shot out a blueish light that covered her father from head to toe. Almost as soon as it started, the blueish light stopped. The drone let out a series of beeps and boops and Anne smiled, "He says you're good to get up."

"Oh thank god!" Angela shouted, rushing to her husband, smothering the man, laying more than a few kisses on his face.

Gabriel sort of just lay there and accepted that this was now his fate, "I love you too, Angela. Now, can I get up?"

"Oh… right, sorry," Angela said, helping her husband up to his feet, "How're your legs?"

"I can only partially feel them."

"HE'S BACK!" Darren cheered quite loudly, only to receive stern looks from the two women in the room, "... Oh, right, kids. Sorry. Anyway, welcome back to the land of the living, bud. How was hell?"

"It froze."

"Ah yes, good as new," Darren laughed.

"I wouldn't say good as new, but definitely better," Gabriel chuckled as he looked at Tai, "So you must be the dad that Ruby and Yang spoke so much about. Nice to meet you."

Tai nodded, "That's me. Nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot of good things about you."

"From who?" Gabriel inquired, "I'm guessing my wife, no?"

"Everyone really," Tai shrugged, "I mean, before the Fall, Ruby and Yang were both ecstatic whenever they talked about you four."

"DAD!"

Tai glanced over at his daughter, "What? I'm not wrong. You and Ruby were crazy about them."

Yang groaned and Tai ruffled his daughter's hair, "Anyway, it's good to see you up."

The group then made their way downstairs, Angela and Emerald aiding Gabriel on the way to the living room. The seven people stayed sitting, talking among themselves, though most of the talk was now directed at Gabriel, who was currently sitting in between Angela and Emerald, cradling Aaron, while Angela held Jane. Shortly thereafter, Anne and Darren left for their own house with Moira, taking her back to put the baby to bed, Darren also receiving a call from Alec in Vale at that time. Tai and Yang also left for their own home, Tai because he needed to rest up before he heads back into Vale to help with rebuilding parts of the city and Yang because she was just plain tired.

This left just Emerald, Angela, Gabriel, Aaron and Jane in the living room. Angela took the two babies upstairs, feeding them and putting them to bed, while Emerald went off to take a shower, leaving Gabriel downstairs. Alone.

The ranger stood up, albeit slowly and cautiously, making his way to a mirror. He looked at himself, glancing over at his very lacking left half. Gabriel sighed, rubbing his stump.

"I did it, old man," Gabriel muttered to himself, "You did always want me to be a hero, right?"

He chuckled, "God damn it, Reyes. Damn you and your ideals…"

"Well, I guess I know how you feel now, right?" Gabriel continued, "Definitely not the same scale but still. You always did say that being a hero was a hard road."

"Sacrifice and all that shit."

He began walking to the front door of the house, "Well, I guess you were right. Beacon's gone, the world's slowly going to shit. All because I tried to fucking play the hero…"

"Worst part is I didn't even win…" Gabriel walked down the porch stairs, "That bitch Cinder is still alive after all."

He chuckled, "Heh… After all I've done, after all I've survived… that little fiery fucker got me. I killed Elders. I killed the fucking Assassin. The motherfucking Chosen Assassin. Even after all that shit, I still lost a fucking arm to that piece of human trash."

"I guess I got cocky," the ranger sighed once more, "I guess no matter how many times you tried to drill it into my head, it really just didn't want to stick, huh."

Leaning himself against the wall, Gabriel took a deep breath, before continuing on with the conversation he was having with himself, "If only you could see us now, Reyes… I mean, Angela and I finally got hitched, so did Darren and Anne, we finally kicked the Ethereals off Earth. Then I learned I have a sister that I never even knew existed and a larger extended family I never would have comprehended. Hell, I've even got kids now."

"Anyway, wherever you are," Gabriel pushed himself off the wall, "Heaven, Hell, doesn't matter… I just wanted to say thank you."

"You're the reason any of this is possible. You saved the world once. I really don't know how many times I've said this, but thanks."

He looked to the stars above him, a pristine night sky, "You're a hero, old man. More of a hero than I ever will be."

* * *

 _ **Anyway, that's the end of this chapter. I was originally contemplating bringing Gabriel back into the forefront, but I just sort of decided to do it anyway.**_

 _ **On the topic of Ruby and Wraith's discussion in the middle of the chapter, Wraith and Salem have a plan, one that will be revealed later.**_

 _ **And in terms of Oscar and his vision, Michael and Mariam were characters I had originally designed for an as of current scrapped fanfic. They were meant to be ancient silver-eyed warriors wielding beyond demi-godlike powers from an even more ancient kingdom that existed before Ozma and Salem, all while being Summer Rose's parents. In this, however, they are silver-eyed warriors from two ancient bloodlines of silver-eyed warriors that are also the parents of Summer and Gabriel. While not as well known as Maria Calavera/The Grimm Reaper, they are just as, if not more, powerful.**_

 _ **Anyway, I hope that clears that up, have a good day and tell me how I'm doing with this story so far.**_

 _ **Signing off, Narsauce.**_


	15. Of Family and Friends

**_Yes, I finally actually got around to posting this! Nearly three months after I posted the last chapter, and I have honestly got no excuse for failing to do put a chapter out earlier. Christmas, work, and university all have been fucking me over for a while. But I'm back, doing this again all while trying to not die in school._**

 ** _Also, as a note, yes, I made Qrow Ruby's father, Summer will explain everything later. If, perchance, you are wondering why I did this or my logic behind the change, please PM me so that we can talk._**

 ** _Xcom to Firaxis and RWBY to Roosterteeth._**

* * *

 _Weiss… Schnee family estate… Two days before the UEF makes planet-fall on Remnant…_

The absolute abhorrence of one's own parent is not something that one should not easily acquire.

But it seems Jacques Schnee just loved making it easy, didn't he? Because for Weiss, hating that man was almost as easy, if not easier, and substantially more natural than breathing.

After all, there were at least a dozen or more reasons for her to despise the man she called father. First, and most obvious, his hatred of the Faunus.

Weiss didn't grow up the best and many of her early opinions of the other people on Remnant were clouded by the fact that the White fang had targeted her and some of her family's friends in her early days. But ever since her time with Blake at Beacon, she'd realized how unreasonable she had been in her attitudes towards regular Faunus.

Secondly, his treatment of… well, Weiss.

He was the one who stripped her of her title as Heiress after that fiasco at the concert, he was the one who tore their family apart just to make a quick buck. He disowned Winter, he was the one who forced Weiss into becoming a prissy little princess (Despite her own reservations calling herself that) and arguably, what she found most damning of all was how the rat fink bastard had moulded Whitley.

Despite only being a few years younger than her, fifteen at the oldest now, Whitley wasn't always as much of an ass as he currently is. In many ways, during his younger years, Weiss thought of her younger brother as quite a good child, kind and playful. But after Winter left to train at Sanctum and Weiss expressed interest in following her older sister shortly thereafter, the trio's father had taken ahold of Whitley in retaliation.

Originally, he had planned on giving Weiss the title of Heir of the SDC but due to her insistence on becoming a huntress at such a young age, Jacques hadn't pushed it onto her, letting her live out her fantasies, waiting for the real world to catch up to her all the while moulding her younger brother into a tool.

His tool.

This was also around the time when their mother became more distant than usual, thus making it exceptionally easy for Jacques to impose his own moral compass on Weiss' once childlike and idealistic younger brother.

Where their mother would always tell them tales of great huntsmen and huntresses fighting back the Grimm on the daily, Jacques would always make sure to point out all the horrible things hunters have done to Whitley. From that early stage in his life, Whitley lost his trust in the hunters that protected the world, even going so far as to hate anyone who wanted to become one.

Including his siblings.

Which, honestly, hurt Weiss deeply. He would call her such horrible names, call her condescending things as if he was somehow better than her. That he was somehow superior for not training with the Semblance that their family had wielded for generations. He still cared about both his sisters, but it was masked behind a veil of hate or apathy.

Regardless, Weiss had many reasons to hate her father, many more reasons than any child should ever reasonably be gifted with.

But her final reason was what hurt the worst. He was the one who took her away from Ruby. From her friends. Her family away from home.

Contrary to how she acted towards her team's leader at the start of their time at Beacon, she had actually grown quite fond of the red-haired girl. To her, Ruby was an unending well of positivity, something Weiss herself adored.

" _What I wouldn't give to see them again,"_ Weiss began to reminisce as she looked at a picture of the team of four that they had taken a month or so before the Fall. Slipping her scroll away, Weiss sighed as she gazed off the balcony on the top of her home.

A tap on her shoulder, "So sister, enjoying the view?"

Turning around, Weiss saw Whitley behind her, that condescending smirk plastered on his face, "Beacon's was better."

Whitley chuckled, "True enough. As much as I enjoy this porch, I wouldn't mind seeing Atlas from the top of the academy's tower. It would be quite beautiful."

"Ok, Whitley, what do you want? You wouldn't just start talking to me for no reason whatsoever," Weiss said, annoyance in her voice.

"Am I not allowed to talk to my sister?" Whitley asked, playfully faking pain in his voice.

"You were only ever interested in my life before Father started making you hate hunters," Weiss grumbled.

"Well… you are right, I have been quite distant, haven't I?" Whitley agreed, "I'm just… concerned."

"Concerned for me?" Weiss asked, "Concerned about what?"

"Well, your mental state," Whitley said, "Something was obviously bothering you at the reception, what with the whole summoning a boarbatusk in the middle of the hall."

"She was being an ass…" Weis began, cutting herself off, "She was being unpleasant. She had no right to say that about Vale."

"Well, she had a point," Whitley said, earning a look of disdain from his elder sister, "Please let me explain, sister…"

"No, I won't," Weiss cut her brother off, "You weren't there, you did see what I saw. It wouldn't have mattered if every single cruiser from Atlas was there. They got plucked out of the sky like it was nothing. Honestly, more military forces there would've just made things worse because SOMEHOW someone hacked they systems controlling the AK-200s and turned them on us!"

"But…"

"There are no buts," Weiss abruptly shut her brother down, "Beacon wouldn't have survived, we wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for the hunters. There are some things the military is good for, that wasn't one of them."

"Weiss, I feel like you're taking this a bit too… personally…"

"AND ANOTHER THING!" Weiss growled, pointing an accusing finger at her brother, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW QUICKLY IRONWOOD'S SHIPS FELL OUT OF THE DAMN SKY? DO YOU? BECAUSE THEY BARELY WERE OF ANY HELP TO US! AT ALL!"

"The hunters fight the Grimm and we're the best at doing it," Weiss continued, "Atlas can only do so much, even with all of our Knights and Paladins. We can't do everything. Besides, unless we equip every single soldier with gear that would be rated to at least, _AT LEAST_ , huntsmen standard, Ironwood would just be sending them into a mulch machine."

"Weiss, you're being irrational," Whitley firmly replied, his voice hardening a small amount, "I know that I don't understand the full situation, but please just listen to me for once in your damn life before you go preaching!"

Weiss was surprised, her brother never really ever raised his voice, Whitley taking his sister's laps in speech to continue with his own tangent, "I understand you hate me for not supporting your decision to train as a huntress and you have every right to. But I don't disapprove of you for wanting to protect people, I just don't think becoming a huntress is the best way to do it. Those schools are archaic and worse, we've been losing veteran hunters every almost every day for the past decade. There are more Grimm now than ever, and far more powerful ones."

"Do you really think any number of hunters could kill that dragon thing that attacked Beacon?" Whitley inquired, causing Weiss to do a double take, "Yes, I overheard it when Ironwood was speaking to father. The only reason you are alive is because of your partner and that professor from Beacon. And there will come a day when they won't be around to save you."

"Please, Weiss, mother has been wasting her life away drinking because of father," Whitley pleaded, "What do you think would happen if either of you two were to die? What do you think would happen to her?"

"You're guilt tripping me, stop it," Weiss said, pushing her brother back, "Mother abandoned us, all of us."

Whitley sighed, "Fine, do as you wish, escape back to your team if you want. But if you die, don't expect to be alone for very long in whatever afterlife there might be."

"You were always her favorite, afterall."

* * *

 _Patch, Owen family household…_

It had been just about a month since he woke up, and Gabriel was already feeling better. Not that it was particularly difficult, almost easy, to get better, seeing as he was previously an unconcious, one-armed man. Almost anything is a step up from that.

Now he was fully back on his feet, continuing to regain his lost weight and strength, though he was still missing his arm, which made it somewhat difficult to do certain tasks. But, that never really deterred him, as he continued to re-train himself how to fight one handed with both Darren, Yang and Tai. Tai, for his part, was able to keep up in hand to hand combat quite well with both Gabriel and Darren, being his prefered method of combat. Yang, having finally accepted her new metal arm, had also done well, though not nearly to the degree of her father.

Between bouts with his sparring partners, Gabriel had also continued to re-train himself with Katana. It went well, seeing as how he almost exclusively utilized the blade one handed for quick strikes. Because he never really had to worry about the power behind any individual strike due to the nature of the Chosen's weapon, being that it cut through nearly any and everything in its path, one handed was the only way he had ever needed to wield it. But that was when he could also utilize the blade two handed if he desired. Now, he had to adapt to the missing weight on his left, as well as the inability to switch grips.

While it wasn't easy, he did manage to accomplish it in a timely manner, quickly gaining complete control over his de-limbed body.

But combatives weren't the only thing on his mind, taking care of his three children was also quite high on his list of things to do. He spent many an hour walking with the three, Aaron and Jane in a stroller, Angela and Emerald to his side, going through the small forests Patch was home to. During this time, he had also begun to familiarize himself with the town of Patch, only a couple minutes drive away from the three families houses.

Apparently, the people of the town had grown to see himself and the rest of Alpha as heroes. Some credited the survival of Vale to the four, despite their adamant denial of the praise, while others gave more personal gratification to the individual for a specific family member's survival. Gabriel alone had been stopped many times while out shopping by people wanting to say thanks for saving someone. It was sort of like what occasionally happened when the four went to any Resistance Havens back in the old days.

Regardless, his nearly year long coma had done little to dampen his psionic abilities. Not that he could just shoot a Soul Storm off whenever he felt like, but it wasn't as if he was incapable of utilizing the power. His abilities revolving around the creation of energy based constructs remain around the same and while he had tried to make an arm for himself, if had proved annoying to maintain consistently over long periods of time, and thus was voided. That being said, he could still create one if necessary.

Though now, after training with Darren for the late morning and some of the early afternoon, Gabriel had decided to make dinner, something a little fancy, but nothing to hard. Ratatouille came to mind, with side of some Lobster broth and noodles. He cooked in silence, mainly because everyone else in the house was sound asleep. Emerald herself had taken to practicing with Yang, trying to become better in hand to hand combat. Not that she wasn't but she was nowhere near the level of her training partner. Both girls had worn themselves out, retreating to their houses and beds to take a much needed rest.

Angela, for her part, was napping with Aaron and Jane after taking the two for a relatively long walk mid-morning. The walk was primarily to calm down the babies, Jane being the culprit of many awakenings in the middle of the night, which both he and Angela took turns dealing with.

All that said, Gabriel cooked dinner for the family over the course of an hour and a half or so. While one would think that it would be difficult to cut vegetables with one hand but it wasn't all that difficult for him. Creating a psionic hand like appendage to hold it in place was annoying, but easy enough to considering it was all he had to focus on, save for cutting the vegetables.

Once all the food had been made, he turned the oven to keep warm setting, plasing the dishes inside to stay at heat. Dispersing the construct was once his left arm, Gabriel grabbed a glass and some whisky, pouring himself a shot. The clock said it was around five thirty, so he would wake everyone up to have dinner in around half an hour.

Gabriel sat on the couch, taking a small sip of the fiery liquid. As he did, he heard someone coming down the stairs.

"Hey honey," He greeted, "Put the babies to sleep?"

"Getting Jane there is hell," Angela sighed, "But yeah, they're asleep like logs, those two."

Gabriel smiled, taking another small sip, "Is Emerald up?"

"Not yet, I'd give her twenty, maybe thirty minutes," Angela shrugged, walking next to her husband, "What's on your mind, Gabe? You look lost."

"You know what's on my mind, Angie," Gabriel replied.

Angela plopped herself down on the couch, next to her husband, "You're worried about Ruby, I get it. But she's fine, Qrow's been following them since they left."

"I guess you're right," Gabriel admitted, "That doesn't mean I can't be worried for her. She is my niece, afterall."

"Our niece."

"Yes, our niece," Gabriel smiled, kissing his wife's forehead. He placed his whisky on the coffee table in the center of their living room, wrapping his arm around Angela's shoulders, "So… you like being a parent?"

"Yeah," Angela said, snuggling closer into her husband's embrace, "Now I sorta understand what my parents felt with me."

"I wish they were here now," Angela mumbled, "To see all we've done, what we've become. I mean, we've done more than we could've ever imagined in our lifetimes."

"If only they could see us now," Gabriel finished, "Yeah, I get that feeling to."

Angela smirked, climbing on top of her husband's lap, "Maybe not right now, though."

"Right now?" Gabriel chuckled, "Really? We could at least wait till Emerald is actually asleep instead of just napping."

"Yes, right now."

"But we…"

"I know we did it last night," Angela put her finger to her husband's lips, "But I went eight months without that nice, juicy _sword_ and I need to catch up."

"Please never call my dick a sword," Gabriel blank stare just egged Angela on more, "It feels wrong..."

"I don't care, I just don't want to feel my legs tomorrow," she whispered seductively in Gabriel's ear, all the while a hand snaked down his pants, while her other hand pulled a rubber out of her pocket. As the two began to kiss and… well, fornicate, another set of feet could be heard traversing down the stairs.

"Mom? Dad?"

Angela's face turned red as a beet when she heard Emerald's voice, "Emerald, whatever you do, do not come into the living room."

"Why?"

"Please don't, Emerald, just please don't," Gabriel called out, "Do you really want to see your mother and I having se…"

"NOPE!" Emerald screeched, her footsteps heard rushing back up the stairs, "NOPENOPENOPENOPE. SO MUCH NOPE!"

"Thought so," Gabriel said, "Now, where were we?"

A few minutes later, ten at most, the three people were sitting at the table, though Emerald was barely touching her food. Gabriel glanced over at his daughter, "Are you… hungry? Does it taste like shit? If it does, I'd like to know."

"No it's fine dad," she replied, flipping a piece of zucchini over with her fork, "But you do have a room."

"First off, blame your horny ass mother…"

"HEY!"

"Secondly, I know that we have a room."

"Then why did I come down and see that?!" Emerald said, exasperated, "No one wants to walk in on their parents haveing sex!"

"Alabama," Angela coughed into her hand,.

Emerald looked over at her mother, "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Fine, whatever" Emerald shrugged, chewing a piece of eggplant.

"Anyway, regardless of the shit that just went down, how was your nap? Training with Yang?" Gabriel queried.

"The nap was fine," Emerald replied, "So was the training with Yang. She didn't hold back… at all. It was "

"Well hey, you're training in something you've done little of before," Gabriel remarked to his daughter, "CQC is never the easiest thing to learn if you aren't trained in it to start. You're more used to fighting with weapons not your fists. It's a difficult transition."

Emerald looked at her father, "How did you learn it then? You're one of the best hand to hand fighters on the island, possibly on Remnant."

"I learned young, when I was six," Gabriel said, "Then I taught your mom. We still spar sometimes and I always seem to win."

"Not always," Angela retorted, "Sometimes I win."

"When I let you win," Gabriel replied, "Besides, I've only beat you in a few times when we go shooting."

"Fair," Angela said, "Anyway, some people used to call your dad a prodigy in martial arts and I wouldn't disagree. You should've seen some of his earlier fights. He took down a person twice his size when he was ten."

"TEN?"

"Ten," Angela said, "Believe me, he probably would've started kicking ass earlier if it wasn't for school. Oh, and the fact that, despite being one of, if not the best martial artists I know, you father hated tournaments, especially when he was competing in one."

"It just always felt unfair to me," Gabriel said as he began to reminisce, "I'd be placed in a group of people my age and I'd end up winning every fight. It felt like I was a fucking terminator fighting a damn toddler."

"A… terminator?" Emerald asked, "What's that?"

"Old pop culture reference from back home," Angela explained, "It's from a movie warning about the dangers of AI and such."

Emerald nodded her head, "That sounds interesting."

"Eh, it sounds good on paper but let's face it, Angie," Gabriel said, "The movie was plagued with cheesy one-liners."

"It was a film of its time," Anglea agreed.

"Of it's time?" Emerald queried, "I'm assuming it's old, right?"

"It came from a time when it action movies were popular," Angela explained, "Big, burly military dudes do burly military things. It was a complete shit-fest of over the top weird."

"Seems like fun," Emerald said, "Yang might enjoy them."

"Corny humor has always been her thing, so yeah, probably," Gabriel said, eliciting grins from the other two occupants of the table.

The three finished their meals and Angela began to remove the dishes on the table, "So, wanna watch a movie?" she asked.

"Not on the couch, no," Emerald replied, a smirk growing on her face as she watched her mother's own become red.

"We'll be more careful next time, I get it," Angela growled, "AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO RUB IT IN!"

"I get the feeling you might be annoying your mother," Gabriel said, rustling his daughter's hair.

"You two started it."

* * *

 _Blake… Menagerie… Around the same time…_

It had been three days since those two assholes from the White Fang had come knocking. In those days, Blake had been stewing in her thoughts, systematically planning out how she, Terra and Sun were going to take down Menagerie's subfaction of the White Fang. Sun had already proven himself a capable combatant, multiple times over, so it wasn't like she was bringing a little baby into a Grimm infested cave or something. Terra herself was no slouch either, using a modular Dust rifle in their fight against the Sea Feilong.

The actual disassembly of the Fang wouldn't be difficult. The removal of their power base wasn't going to be difficult by any stretch of the imagination. At best, the Albain brothers would be the most challenging aspect of the assassination. But there were still issues.

Primarily ones of convincing the Faunus of Menagerie that what they were doing was right. Most of the people on Menagerie couldn't give a rat's ass about what happened in the other four kingdoms so long as it didn't directly affect them. Presenting the White Fang as nothing more than a terrorist group that would just make life worse for Faunus, in the long run, would definitely galvanize the population to her side.

But to convince the people of Kuo Kuana of the dangers that the White Fang posed along with the evils that they had committed would be difficult. Very difficult, at that.

"Hey Blake," Sun called out, "Are you seriously still sulking in your room? It's been days."

"Sun, I'm planning."

She heard audible slap coming from just beyond her door, definitely Sun, "I know that! But at least let us help!"

"Sun, as much as you want to, I know the Fang and their tactics better than you ever will," Blake replied, "Just let me plan. Did you give out those pamphlets yet?"

"YES WE GAVE OUT THE PAMPHLETS!" Sun replied, obviously annoyed, "No one gave a damn…"

"That's not entirely true, Sunny boy," Terra countered.

Blake could practically hear Sun's eye's twitching, "You… wh… why did you call me Sunny Boy?!"

"Yeah, I did," Terra replied, "Anyway, Blake, some people actually took your pamphlets to heart, but most either didn't care or were to deep in with the Fang to give us the time of day."

"Did any say that they would help?" Blake called back out.

"None directly, no," Terra said, "None were really all that eager to join us, but the people who actually took the pamphlets did say they would consider it."

"Better than nothing, I guess," Blake sighed, opening her door to the two monkey Faunus, "Anything new on the Albain brothers?"

"Other than that they're still in their shrine? Nope, nothing new," Sun said, "They've got an increased presence around it, but other than that nothing's changed."

"Any way we could get in? Hack their systems? Maybe intercept some communications?"

"I did bug the area in and around the shrine," Terra said, "That should at least give us some info on what they're planning."

"Well, that's some good news, at the very least," Blake sat on her bed, looking at Sun, "Did you see any Fang members?"

"Few here and there, yeah," Sun replied, "I think they might have a camp to the east, though I'm not sure."

"How many?"

"I don't know, I was handing out pamphlets," Sun cheekily bit back, noticed Blake's relatively annoyed reaction and continued, "Half a dozen to a dozen were in the market when I went down there, other than that I don't know."

"I'd peg the number to be around five or six dozen, but that's a low-ball estimate," Terra commented, "With the number of people in Kuo Kuana, I wouldn't be surprised if there were upwards of two hundred Fang sympathizers, if not outright supporters."

Blake gave her chin an inquizitive stroke, "I'd bet you're right with the six dozen for their militia strength. I doubt all of them are fanatics, but…"

"Well, that's still six dozen possible threats," Sun pointed out, "Some of them are probably highly trained, like us."

"Yeah, Fang assassin's can rival hunters in some regards," Terra continued, "But there should only be three or four at most."

"And I think I know one," Blake muttered.

The two monkey Faunus turned to her, "Who?"

"Ilia," Blke said, "A chameleon Faunus. She's an old friend who's parents died in a dust mine accident."

"And you think she's one of them… why?" Sun asked.

"She's a very good fighter and someone who can blend in almost anywhere," Blake explained, pointing out the window, "She could literally be sitting right there and we probably wouldn't be able to notice."

The trio heard a rustling in the branches, "Oh come on, that's bull shit." Sun muttered, "We're going to investigate that, aren't we?"

Blake nodded, opening the window and drawing Gambol Shroud. As she leapt out, there was a black blur shot out of the tree, landing in front of her. The blur looked to be the shape of a young woman, one that quickly took off, dashing away from her.

"Come on! We can't lose her!" Blake shouted as she gave chase. Both Sun and Terra leapt out of the window, following suit to catch up to Blake. The chase began, the trio in pursuit of the nimble girl. Running to a more residential area of Kuo Kuana, she leapt up one of the buildings, using her weapon like a lasso to hoist herself up the side of the wall, where she began to run along the roofs of the buildings.

"Shit…" Blake muttered to herself, "We can't let her get away!"

Quickly, she ascended the wall, leaping from the ground to the ledge of the roof, followed by Sun and Terra in short order. The spy glanced back and growled, slashing at some of the rooftop piping of the houses, unleashing a cloud of vapours to distract and disorient her pursuers. Blake barreled through the smoke, continuing to chase after the spy. After running across a dozen or so rooftops, Blake reeled back her arm, throwing Gambol Shroud as hard as she could at the spy. The spinning blade was deflected by her prey, landing back in front of Blake, who quickly retrieved it.

"Who are you?" Blake asked, leveling both blades at her adversary, "Why were you spying on me?"

Her adversary gave her no response, however the colour of her skin did change to red, her blade extending out into it's whip form. It was then Blake realized the identity of the spy, "Ilia? Is that…"

"You shouldn't be here," Ilia responded, "You shouldn't have come back."

"And why's that?" Blake questioned, "Menagerie is a place where anyone can come and feel safe."

"You betrayed the Fang, Blake! We trusted you, I trusted you!" Ilia bit back, slashing at her friend with Lightning Lash. Blake swung Gambol Shroud, blocking her once friend's whip-blade, shooting a bullet back at the chameleon girl.

"I didn't betray anyone," Blake retorted, Ilia nimbly dodging the bullet, "The Fang changed, Ilia, you and I both know it!"

The two sets of blades clashed on the rooftop, Ilia gritted her teeth, Blake returning a low growl. The two dueled, though it quickly became clear that neither combatant actually wanted to harm the other. The fight finished shortly thereafter, Blake sheathing Gambol Shroud, Ilia doing the same for Lightning Lash.

"Soooo… that's your friend?"

Blake glanced over her shoulder as Sun and Terra made their way onto the roof she and Ilia stood upon, "Yup. Sun, Terra, meet Ilia, Ilia, meet Sun and Terra."

"While that's nice and all, I have some questions for you," Ilia huffed, returning Blake's attention to herself, "And I'm only going to ask it once. Why did you come back?"

"The Fang," Blake replied, "I'm here to stop them."

"We," Terra muttered again.

"Yes, we," Blake repeated, "We are here to stop the Fang."

"And you two?" Ilia gestured to Terra and Sun.

"Lady, I just followed Blake here," Sun said as he crossed his arms, "Couldn't have her getting hurt."

"And I was ordered to tail the two and keep them safe," Terra explained.

"So you want to stop The Fang," Ilia confirmed, receiving a nod from Blake, "Then you won't get any help from me."

"Why not? You and I both know all they're doing is worsening life for the average Faunus," Blake retorted.

"The Fang has done nothing but help Faunus. We've shown the world that we aren't afraid to hit back," Ilia said, earning a glare from Blake.

"Don't tell me you don't know what they did to Vale, to Beacon," Blake growled out. Ilia cocked her eyebrow, unsure as to what her former friend was talking about, "They attacked innocent people. They released Grimm into the city and into the school. That isn't showing the world that you're not afraid, it shows that you're crazy."

"But we… we didn't…"

"Adam cut off my partner's arm!" Blake yelled, "He nearly killed me!"

"You abandoned him!"

"ADAM'S INSANE!" Terra interjected, "Twice, he wanted to attack Vale. TWICE! He wanted us to kill innocent people just because he could!"

"Humans have to pay for their crimes," Ilia said, very sure in her tone.

"Humans?" Terra replied, "You do realize half the reason we won the Revolution is because Humans helped us, right? Or do they not teach you that here?"

Ilia huffed, "Still doesn't forgive all the things they did…"

"Alright, enough," Sun interjected, turning and pointing to Ilia, "Look, as much as you want to deny it, what the Fang did in Vale is wrong. What they did at Beacon is wrong. You may have prejudice against humans but whatever those prejudices are, there is no way you could justify attacking people who had nothing to do with anything."

Ilia glared at the three Faunus that stood before her, fist clenched at her side.

"Please Ilia, help us," Blake pleaded, "It's not too late. We can stop the Fang together, like back in the old days."

The chameleon girl looked to her once friend, a tear forming in her eye.

"I'm...I'm sorry Blake…" she said, her skin changing to reflect what was behind her, "I… I can't."

* * *

 _The Avenger… Operation Light the Dark, phase 1…_

" _We're ready Commander,"_ Lily said, her voice coming through Summer's datapad, " _The Warp Rift generator is online, all components are functional and in the green.."_

"Tygan? Vahlen?" Summer asked as she flicked across her datapad.

" _We'll be close at max capacity once the Warp Rift is open, Commander,"_ Tygan replied, " _That being said, all subsystems will still be online and The Avenger is completely sealed off from the outside. Life support systems are fully functioning."_

" _We are ready to proceed when you are,"_ Vahlen continued,

"Alrighty then," Summer said as she turned to Bradford, who was currently meaning the pilot's seat, "Bradford, start it up. Let's get moving."

The Avenger's engines thrummed, lifting the three hundred and fifty-meter long hulking ship off the ground. The ship rose into the air, kicking up dust as they went.

"Activating Warp Rift generator," Summer said, pushing some dials on her datapad, the purple rift ripping a hole in space/time in front of the ship, "Are we stable."

" _We're stable, as predicted,"_ Vahlen said.

Summer's expression changed from one of nervousness to that of pure determination, "Bradford, we're good to go," she said, switching her datapad over to the shipwide intercoms, "All hands, we are entering the Rift, brace for warp. Templars, begin Solace."

Summer began to project a field of psychic energy around herself, encompassing the entire bridge area. Shortly thereafter, The Avenger entered into the Rift, the entire ship shuddering for a moment while it passed through the swirling purple hole in space/time.

"EVERYBODY HOLD ON!" Bradford shouted, "THIS SHOULDN'T TAKE VERY LONG!"

He was right and ten or so seconds after The Avenger passed through the Rift's opening, it exited. Right in front of a building.

"SHITSHITSHITSHIT!" Bradford jerked The Avenger to the side, narrowly avoiding the building. He sighed and slumped in his chair, "Ok… crisis averted… alright, Commander, where are we?"

"Well…" Summer replied, tapping some of the controls on the holographic display table, "Seems like we're in Mount Glenn. The place is famous for being infested with Grimm. Building a fort here would be difficult."

"So where would you suggest we move?" Bradford replied, "I'm only seeing a few dozen good spots to actually put down for a fortified area."

"Put us down southeast of Vale," Summer said as she marked Vale and the prospective area on the map, "It has some natural defences, it's on a hill. We should be good to set up shop there."

"Alright, taking us over now, probably be twenty minutes," Bradford acknowledged, "You think this is really a good spot?"

"It's probably going to be the easiest place to actually defend unless we set up right on top of Vale, so yeah," Summer replied, "Besides, it's close enough so the troops stationed here can help Vale."

"So we won't need the people to go to Vale?" Bradford asked.

Summer nodded, "Exactly, which means we can send the people who were supposed to be in Vale to Menagerie. Which means we can get them on our side easier."

Bradford nodded, but ultimately he didn't say anything, continuing to direct the Avenger towards the hill. Summer then left for one of the newly renovated facilities, around half of which had been converted into extra crew quarters so that more people could be brought on board. Currently, one of the rooms was taken up by Merek, Annette, Jake and Olivia, seeing as how Annette insisted on coming and she wouldn't leave the kids behind.

"Annette?" Summer's knuckles rapped on the door, "You home?"

Summer heard a groan and the rustling of bedsheets from the inside of the quarters, "Oui, Summer. Any news?"

"Well, we're on Remnant now, how are you feeling?"

"Well…" the door to the room cleanly slid open, "Jake just left to go see Shen. He wanted to get fitted for a set of Warden armour. Olivia and Merek…"

"Hold up, fitted for warden armour?"

"We'll, he's always wanted to fight on the front lines, so yeah," Annette rolled her eyes, ushering Summer inside, "I don't fully understand it, but he's a good shot, helped some of the militia back home with cleaning up Advent patrols a year or two before the war ended."

Summer sighed, following her to the table in the center of the room, "Fine, I'll let him. What about the other two?"

"Those two went down with Elena and Tisha," the french women said, the two taking seats next to each other, "Olivia wanted to try using one of those Shadow Lances she's seen them use."

"Well, I'm definitely not letting her join any operations," Summer noted, "She can use the weapons, but she isn't going out."

"Don't worry about that, I already made it clear. Besides, if Jake does want to go on a mission, his dad will go with him," Annette replied, "Anyway, excited to see your kids?"

Summer shuddered, "Well… yeah. I just hope they feel the same."

Annette rolled her eyes, "You're getting yourself far too worked up over that. Summer, your kids want to see you again, trust me."

"Depends," Summer sighed.

"On?"

"Whether or not Qrow and Tai told them the truth," Summer meekly replied.

"The truth?"

"I… I just…" Summer's was getting a bit anxious, her breath quickening.

Annette placed her hand on the slightly younger woman's shoulder, "Breath, mon amie. Then talk."

Summer took a deep breath, "Alright… I'm fine…"

"Now spill. What's wrong."

"So I've told you about how I married Tai, right?" Annette nodded and gestured for Summer to continue, "I lied."

"Hold on, what?"

Summer's shoulders slumped down, "Okay, so, when we were at Beacon, Qrow and I got into a relationship. I wanted to settle down, but Qrow said he didn't want to."

Annette's eyes flashed with purple, "So he's a womanizer?"

"Nonononono," Summer was taken back, shaking her head, "Not at all. He cared about me, all of us, actually, but his semblance involved Bad Luck. He always said the people closest to him get hurt, badly. He didn't want that for me."

"I always wanted kids. So after a year of convincing him with the help of Taiyang, we tried and I got pregnant," Summer giggled, "I remember something about him not wanting a kid so it would definitely happen."

"So how did that lead you to lying?"

"I'm getting to that," Summer said, "Anyway, two years before Ruby was born, Tai and his ex-wife, Raven, had a kid named Yang. Despite Tai being an amazing person and a great Dad, Qrow and I had to help take care of Yang when she was young. Mainly because she was a *bit* of a problem child."

"Well, when Ruby was born, Qrow and I had an argument. I told him that Ruby would need a father and Qrow said that he was too dangerous to be around his daughter for any long period of time," Summer began to tear up, "I said that I didn't care that he thought he was dangerous, he was still a part of our family and he said something like: 'It is precisely because I care that I can't be around.' Tai eventually calmed us both down and put forth an idea."

"And that was?"

"Well, the deal was something like him taking on the responsibility of being Ruby's father if Qrow felt that he would be too dangerous. Of course, I loved Yang like my own, so I also agreed to act like their mother until they were older. I made the demand that Qrow would also be involved in the family, because Ruby was his daughter. But we also agreed that if anything were to happen to any of us, we would tell Ruby the truth."

"And you don't think they did?"

Summer shrugged, "I… honestly don't know what to think. Qrow probably drank himself into a coma when they found out and Tai probably didn't know what to do, so he might have just took care of the kids and forgot about the agreement."

"So you're worried about them not telling your kids and them not taking the truth well?" Annette mused, Summer nodding solemnly in response.

"I just don't know what to say, do… how to act, anything really," Summer replied, "I mean, I've changed."

"Ten years of war will do that to a person…" Annette agreed.

"Tai and Qrow probably romanticized me, made me seem like this perfect person and I…" Summer paused, "I just don't want to not be what they wanted. What they think I am. Who they think I am."

"You're probably just as caring as you were back then," Annette assured.

"I… you're probably right…" Summer sighed, "I just hope they see it-"

Summer's datapad buzzed, " _Commander, we've landed,"_ Bradford's voice came through, " _I've started scanning the surrounding area to prepare for the rest of the wave one troops to come through tomorrow. Anything else we need?"_

"Set up a rotating guard, six to a squad, switch every two hours, for ten total. I'll go out for the first watch."

" _Understood Commander,"_ Bradford's voice blinked out.

"Well, Annette, I gonna go," Summer said, "And… thanks for letting me get that out. It wasn't the easiest thing to get off my chest."

"No problem," Annette replied, "Just be sure you tell her the truth."

Summer paused for a moment, "I will…"

* * *

 _Oniyuri…_

"I've only heard stories of Oniyuri," Pyrrha muttered to herself, as the group of 5 continued to walk around the abandoned town, "I never thought that I'd ever actually see it with my own eyes…"

"This place feels like Mount Glenn…" Ruby remarked as she kicked a pebble with her foot.

"It is, in a way," Ren said, "Though where Mount Glenn was done under the supervision of Vale, Oniyuri was mainly done by some of the wealthy elite from Mistral."

"And it didn't turn out any different," Nora mumbled.

"Well, whatever this place is, it's creepy," Jaune said as he scratched his head.

Ren nodded in agreement, "There are a lot of bad memories here, it's bound to be creepy."

"So what do you think happened here?" Ruby questioned, "I've got a feeling that it wasn't abandoned for lack of trying."

"Probably a Grimm attack, from what my father told me," Pyrrha answered, "Though, honestly, I'm not really sure."

"I think I know…" Ren mused, his face saddening.

Nora looked over to her friend, "Do… do you think THAT did this?"

All Ren did was nod in dismay as Nora sniffled, remembering the fate of her home village. The other three of the group were at least somewhat confused by what the two childhood friends were thinking about, but decided it was best to leave it be.

"Sooooo…" Ruby said, determined to change the subject, "How far are we from Mistral?"

"I'd say around a week and a half if we don't get sidetracked…" Jaune said jokingly, "That also relies on the map actually being up to date."

"It's worked so far," Pyrrha replied.

"It's taken us off the path at least three times," Jaune rebutted.

"I'm pretty sure that was you, Jaune," Nora said.

Janue sighed, "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Blame m-"

Ren raised his hand, silencing his friend, "Something's coming."

Soft pattering of feet was heard off in the distance and the group of five unsheathed their weapons. They formed a circle, covering each direction and the sound of running drew ever closer.

"Where is that…" Pyrrha muttered, "ABOVE US!"

Quickly shifting Miló into it's spear form, Pyrrha launched the weapon at the assailant, only to find it knocked aside, embedded in a wall. The person let out a maniacal laugh, the blades on his wrist folding outwards.

As soon as the madman landed, Ren and Nora were on top of him. Nora swung Magnhild vertically down, barely giving the lunatic any time to dodge the strike. That being said, he sidestepped the swing, blocking Stormflower as he went. He planted his foot on the hammer, using it as leverage to push off and kick at Ren.

As Ren went down, Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha engaged. Jaune was the first to the front, slamming his shield into the madman's face before cutting at him with a powerful downward slash. The assailant barely let up, blocking the strike and attempting to deliver a powerful kick to Jaune's stomach. He was cut short, however, when Pyrrha threw Akoúo̱ at him, striking him in his stomach, sending him flying.

This, however, did little to phase the man as he rolled out of the hit and launched himself at Pyrrha, performing two slashes with his gauntlet blades. The champion parried one of the strikes, though couldn't parry the second, resulting in a gash across her cheek. The man raised his hand for another strike as Ruby shot forward, her semblance plus the recoil of Crescent Rose sending her rocketing into the group's assailant. With a ton of force behind an exceptionally strong kick, she sent him flying through a nearby wall.

"Is everyone okay?" she calls out, as the five regrouped near the wall.

"He nicked my face," Pyrrha muttered, "I'm out of practice."

"Well at least you're still alive," Jaune said as he helped her stand up.

A maniacal laugh was heard from the hole in the wall where Ruby kicked the man. Everyone turned, "Whoever you are, we aren't looking for trouble."

"And yet, trouble seems to have found _you_ …" The man said, stepping out of the shadows cast by the broken building. His smile was probably one of the most unsettling things any of the group had seen, ever.

"And who might trouble be?" Jaune growled.

"Trouble's gonna be a pancake soon," Nora muttered, hefting her hammer up.

"Who I am?" the man said, gesturing to himself, "Who I am is none of your concern to any of you. Well, not too you two," he gestured at Nora and Ren, "Or you two," he then gestured his hand at Pyrrha and Jaune.

"But you," he pointed directly at Ruby, "I'm very interested in."

"What do you want with her?" Pyrrah said defensively.

"Oh ho ho ho!" the man laughed, his grin widening, "I'm just here to whisk you away-"

"Like hell you are," Ruby gripped Crescent Rose tighter, "You aren't taking me anywhere."

"So the rose has thorns!" the man maniacally laughed, "Oh little flower, I never said I'd give you a choice!"

The man launched himself forward, catapulting off of Jaune's shield high into the air. Both Ruby and Pyrrha shifted their weapons into their ranged variant, laying down heavy fire on the lunatic. He responded by blocking the bullets fired, dodging the ones he couldn't block before landing. Nora, Ren and Jaune all proceeded to attack simultaneously, Jaune and Nora from the front and Ren from behind. While both Jaune and Nora were blocked by the assailant, Ren had managed to get a clear shot at his back. Moving in for the kill, Ren prepared to stab the man in the nape of his neck.

That was until, however, a scorpion tail shot out from the man's trench coat, smacking Ren across the chest, sending the green ninja flying. Nora, enraged, swung her hammer in an uppercutting motion, fully intent on taking the man's head off. That being said, he dodged the swing and returned the favor with a strong headbut and several slashes to the chest, all before he launched her back with a well placed kick to her sternum.

After kicking Nora, the man came after Jaune with his stinger, who blocked the extra appendage with his shield. Dropping the shield and side stepping out of the way, Jaune managed to land a hit on the scorpion man's center of mass with Crocea Mors. However, the man managed to spin out of the strike, slamming into Jaune's side with his tail.

Almost as soon Pyrrha rushed at the man while Ruby continued to lay down covering fire. Pyrrha thrust Miló's sword form forward, before swinging it in a deadly arc with enough force to decapitate anyone foolish enough to be standing in it's way. The man responded with a strike to the stomach. Pyrrha, annoyed, grabbed the man's weapons with her semblance, and thus the rest of him too, and threw him to the ground.

"Well, you do pack a punch, girl…" The man said as he pushed himself back up, "But it's not enough!"

In a feat of blinding speed, the man rushed the Invincible Girl, practically appearing in front of her in what was tantamount to the blink of an eye. Pyrrha barely had any time to react as the man's hand glowed purple, reaching for her face as his stinger came in for the kill.

Luckily, she didn't have to react.

Almost as fast as the faunus had gotten in her face, did he practically disappear, launched half courtyard away. Pyrrha glanced back at Ruby, who had holstered Crescent Rose temporarily, and instead was holding what looked like a silver string.

"Stay away from my friends," Ruby growled, redrawing Crescent Rose and igniting its energy blades.

The man grinned, "You really aren't making this easy, are you?" he shed his trenchcoat, "Ah well, the struggle's all part of the fun!"

He sprang forward. In response, Ruby twirled her scythe and struck him in the chin with it's back end, launching him into the air. She leapt up after him prepared and determined to finish him, only for the mad man's hands to glow purple as he grabbed and threw her face first into the ground.

Ruby groaned as she tried, and subsequently failed to get up, " _My… My aura feels drained. What is that?"_

"Ah well, looks like you weren't strong enough," the man said as he landed, "And it looks like you're coming with me!" his stinger reared back, ready to strike.

The stinger reared back for a final strike, aimed at her abdomen. The tail flew at her…

But no strike came. After a few seconds, Ruby looked up to see Qrow standing over her.

"Hey kid," Qrow said, "How's it going?"

"Uncle Qrow?"

"Well, well, well," the maniac said as he acrobatically leapt back, "This is exhilarating! A true hunter and Qrow Branwen no less!"

"And who the hell are you? And why are you chasing my dau…" The hunter paused, "Niece?" Qrow said, gesturing for the hunters in training to get behind him.

"Why, my name is Tyrian. Tyrian Callows," the now named Tyrian bowed, his stinger poking above his head as he did, "And as for why, I was tasked with the retrieval of this girl by my queen."

"Wait…" Ruby said, "I know you. You're the person that weird Grimm man told me about!"

"So you do know me!" Tyrian laughed, "But yes, her grace wants you, little rose and bring you to her is simply what I must do."

"Like hell you will," Jaune said defiantly.

"You put on a brave face, boy," Tyrian mocked, "And I'll get back to you later. But for now, you," he pointed at Qrow, "Lets see what you can do, Hummingbird!"

"You're on, ass-" Qrow was cut off as his opponent slammed into him at full speed, laughing as he did. Qrow managed to block the two strikes Tyrian threw at him, slashing vertically at him.

"Come on, we have to help him!" Ruby said as she managed to heave herself upwards. Pyrrha, however, moved in front of her friend, stopping her from entering the fray.

"Ruby, no," The red-head said, "Even if we did, all we would do is get in the way. They're moving too fast."

Jaune cocked his eyebrow, "Even for you, Pyr?"

"Yes," Pyrrha replied to Jaune, "I noticed it earlier, but his wrist blades were somewhat resistant to my semblance. On top of that, I've never faced someone as fast or as unpredictable."

Ruby looked back at Qrow, as he and Tyrian continued to strike at each other, their two blades clashing, sending sparks flying as they did. Qrow shifted his weight and sidestepped, causing Tyrian to lose his balance and fall forward a slight bit. Taking advantage of this, Qrow lashed out with a devastating kick to Tyrian's chest, sending him flying back. Qrow leapt into the air after him, bringing Harbinger down on the scorpion faunus' raised blades. The clash created a shockwave, breaking one of the nearby roofs.

Tyrian glanced at the broken roof, grinned maniacally and returned his attention to Qrow, who himself grinned back. Until, that is, Tyrian began firing from the two double-machine guns on his gauntlets.

"Come on, we have to do something!" Nora shouted, rushing at the scorpion man.

"NORA WAIT!" Jaune shouted as she attempted to slam her hammer down on top the maniac. It was, as expected, to no avail, as Tyrian swiftly disengaged from fighting Qrow, instead kicking Nora's leg's out from underneath her, causing her to fall. As she fell, Tyrian went in for the kill, both his hands glowing in their purple aura.

Pyrrha threw Miló again, forcing Tyrian to dodge off to the side, giving Nora time to get back up, where she swiftly retreated to the rest of her team.

"Don't get in the way!" Qrow ordered as he and Tyrian continued to duel. Ruby, rather than listening to him, decided to rush over to one of the buildings to gain a height advantage on the two.

"RUBY! W-. Oh, what's the point…" Jaune said, "Pyrrha, think you can hit some shots?"

"Definitely," his girlfriend replied, switching Miló to it's rifle form. Both she and Ruby began to fire at Tyrian, who seemed to dodge or block every single one of their bullets.

Ruby growled, condensing a small amount of Psionic energy into her palm, " _Just like I practiced… breath, Ruby, breath…"_

Ruby extended her palm outwards, unleashing a Volt at Tyrian. The silver arcs of electricity surged forward, striking the scorpion man, who became enraged at the attack. In the blink of an eye, he went from fighting Qrow being up right next to her.

"You'll pay for that!" he screeched, striking Ruby in the face as hard as his aura infused fist could, sending her crashing through one of the lower buildings. Ruby barely had time to get back up before Tyrian was right in front of her ready to stab her with the stinger.

He was going for the kill now, it was obvious for her to see. The world seemed to slow for her, as the stinger krept closer to her body. She heard the cries of her friends, of Qrow.

Then she felt something warm drip onto her.

Something red.

Blood.

Qrow stood above her, the stinger through his gut. He coughed and grinned weakly, "Sorry… kiddo."

Tyrian threw Qrow off the stinger, the man's body, smashing against a nearby wall, "And now, little flower," the maniac cooed, "For you…"

Ruby felt rage boil inside her, streaks of silver lightning emitting from her body, scorching the ground around her. All the people present noticed the lightning, their fears growing. Ruby stood up, cold fury in her glowing silver eyes. Tyrian took a step back, before regaining his courage and leaping at Ruby.

Ruby flicked her wrist, her psionic whip cracking Tyrian in the head, sending him careening across the courtyard. She thrust her hand forward, fully intent on killing the scorpion man for what he did, the psionic whip obeying. As Tyrian was about to get impaled through, Ruby instead had another, substantially more sadistic idea.

She willed the whip to instead wrap around Tyrian's tail. Tyrian was surprised by this but as the searing heat of the whip increased, he realized just how screwed he was. With a sharp pull, the whip cut clean through his tail.

"ARGH!" he screeched as he saw his stinger drop to the floor, "YOU… YOU BITCH!"

But Ruby wasn't done yet, as she willed the whip to take one more thing from the madman. The rope wrapped around his wrist, the raging heat causing Tyrian to scream in pain. Another sharp pull and Tyrian now had a cauterized stump for a hand. As he cupped his now stumpy hand, Tyrian shot a glare at Ruby, who herself glared back.

"YOU… YOU… The Queen… she'll forgive you," Tyrian raved, the lunacy obviously going to his head, "She'll forgive you for this…"

"Then tell her I'm coming," Ruby replied, "Now…"

" **RUN."**

A yelp was heard as Tyrian scampered away, his tail both figuratively and literally between his legs away from the brunette. As soon as he was out of sight, and the patterning of his feet couldn't be heard, Ruby's eyes stopped glowing as she rushed over to Team JNPR who were bandaging Qrow with what little medical supplies they had on them.

Unfortunately, they had no nanomedikits, which would've patched the wound up quite neatly, so they had to rely on gauze and cloth.

"Is he going to be alright?" Ruby asked fearfully, as Ren handed her back her weapon.

"I… I don't know," Jaune said, "His heart is still beating and he's still breathing, so yeah, he's alive."

"We have to go chase that bastard down!" Nora declared, "We can't let him hurt anyone else!"

Ren shook his head, "No, that would be far too risky. We don't know where he is now, so finding him would be difficult, if not impossible. We should just continue on the road to Mistral."

"But Ruby-"

"Nora," Ruby said, "I did that because I got mad. I don't think I could do that without someone getting me mad."

"Then we go to Mistral," Pyrrha stated as she stood up, "We don't have any time to waste."

"I agree, kid," Qrow groaned, his head lolling to look at the group.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby exclaimed, tears of joy streaking down her face, "Are you…"

"I'm gonna be fine, Ru," Qrow replied, coughing once before continuing, "The poison was meant for you. Which means it wasn't meant to kill. Besides, even if my aura can't get the poison out of my system, it should be able to close up the cut."

He coughed again, "Hey, all of you…"

"What's your favourite fairytale?"

* * *

 _ **That's a wrap, hope you enjoyed, please leave a review and contact me if you have any questions.**_

 _ **Narsauce out.**_


	16. Scattered no more

_**Just as a forward, I would like to make it clear that neither the God of Light nor the God of Dark exists in this version of RWBY. That being said, there are entities similar to them in some respects, though they will be discussed later.**_

 _ **Ranjira1988: Thanks for the compliment, hope you continue to enjoy.**_

 _ **Also, Sorry.**_

 _ **Edit: Thank you to the kind guest reviewer who pointed out the mistake of Voss actually being Dutch.**_

* * *

 _Anima…_

"So any questions?" Qrow winced.

"I mean, it's difficult to wrap my head around, but it does make sense," Ruby replied.

Ren shook his head, "Pyrrha told us everything about them before we left. Some of the stuff you said did surprise us, but we mostly heard it already."

"So you completely understand everything regarding the Maidens," Qrow chuckled, though it was pained, "Faster than I got it, anyway."

The group of six continued to sit around the fire, contemplating what they had just heard, before Ruby piped up, "So… What do you know about me?"

"A lot," Qrow replied.

"That's not what she meant, Mr. Branwen," Pyrrha said.

"So what do you want to know?"

"Why's Ruby so special?" Nora inquired.

Qrow sighed, "You know how you and your mom have silver eyes? You know how I said that was special and unique?" Ruby nodded, "Well, that basically means you're one of the most powerful beings currently alive on this planet."

"But… I thought the maidens were…"

"They are powerful, Pyrrha," Qrow replied, "But people with silver eyes are something entirely different, on a whole other **level** of power. There are a lot of legends about them, fighting armies, ripping apart mountains with their bare hands. And a lot of people don't like that another one exists."

"Which means that there are at least three of us," Ruby said, "Me, mom and Gabriel."

"Correct," Qrow replied, "And if they could take out you, they'd only have to deal with two."

"But… what could possibly threaten a person capable of ripping apart mountains," Ren asked, "And why can't Ruby?"

"Second question first and honestly, I don't know," Qrow replied, "Might have something to do with experience, maybe it has to do with emotional state. I don't really know."

Qrow coughed, "And for the first question. Salem."

"What do you mean?" Nora and Pyrrha simultaneously asked, "Who's Salem?"

"Supposedly, she's the mother of the Grimm, according to Ozpin," Qrow replied, "She's been around as long as they have been, trying to destroy humanity."

"And I'm assuming people like Ruby have been the ones stopping her," Jaune surmised, to which Qrow nodded.

"Yeah, and according to legend, they sorted themselves into five families," Qrow explained, "Each one laying the foundations of what we know as the four kingdoms today. Two, no-one's really been able to uncover anything about them. The other three only have a little information on each, but they are all known to have existed. The information we do have is kept tightly under wraps."

"So what is the information?" Ruby queried.

"Well, Vale's groundwork was laid by a family of Silver-eyed warriors named the Voss family **(Voss means Fox in Dutch)**. Most of the ruins can be found in either Forever Falls or really deep in the Emerald Forest. Other than that, they were destroyed and built over. Most legends depict them as explorers and diplomats, one of the few families to actively interact with the others. In Vacuo, there was a nomadic family which I cannot remember the name of, who somehow found a way to actually rip off Grimm masks and made them into armour. Some people reportedly found tombs upwards of five thousand years old that were littered with Grimm masks."

"And the last one?" Pyrrha asked though it was obvious what the answer was.

"The Rose family," Qrow replied, "Most legends of silver eyed warriors are about your ancestors, Ruby. Some legends even go as far as to pin it as the progenitor of the four other families."

"So what did they help build?" Ren said.

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure," Qrow replied, "Most stories just describe them as these warriors who constantly fought against the Grimm. They apparently dedicated their entire lives to fighting them."

"So like huntsmen?" Ruby asked.

Qrow shrugged, "Sort of? It's… the legends are weird. Some are inconsistent, some contradict each other, some just don't make any sense. And when I said they fought off armies, I mean it. For whatever reason, the Grimm seem to have a particular vendetta against your family."

"How particular of a vendetta?" Jaune questioned.

"So much so that they used to go out of their way to find and kill them, over just about anyone else," Qrow explained, "According to legend, the families used to have dozens of members. And now, it's just you, Gabriel and your mom, as far as I know. And if they're still around, your grandparents."

"But… well, that's all I got Kiddo," Qrow said with a shrug. The group of six continued to sit around the campfire in silence, Team JNPR eventually set up the tents the group had, falling quickly to sleep. Which left only Qrow and Ruby around the fire.

"So… was all that stuff you said true?" Ruby questioned, "All that stuff about me? About my eyes?"

"Every bit of it, Ruby," Qrow coughed a bit, "If the legends are even a bit true, atleast."

"And how true do you think the legends are?"

"... Honestly, I really don't know," Qrow replied, "Legends come from somewhere, but they aren't always exact representations of what actually happened."

Ruby sighed as she moved over next to Qrow, leaning her head on the huntsman's shoulder, "Do you think mom is proud?"

"Very," Qrow nodded, "Tai is. I know I am."

Ruby smiled softly, "When you were back at Beacon, what was mom like?"

"She was a good person, a bit stubborn and bratty sometimes, but she was a good person," Qrow sighed, "She always wanted to be like her parents, like a hero from a fairytale. She was sorta like you in that way."

"Did she ever tell you about her parents?" Ruby asked, intrigued. She had never actually gotten to meet either her grand-father or grand-mother, so hearing about them would be nice.

"Yeah, not too much. I only ever got to meet her mom, Mariam," Qrow said, "Cool lady. Took us out on a few missions in our first year."

"What about grandpa?"

"He was always busy," Qrow explained, "He was a huntsman, and a damn good one to."

"Oh," Ruby muttered, slightly disappointed, "Well, what was grandma like?"

"She was… again, sort of like your mother. Kind, caring, the like, though she was a bit playful," Qrow reminisced, "That being said, you wouldn't have wanted to get her pissed. She was a damn good shot with that bow of hers."

"So why didn't they ever visit? Even if grandpa couldn't, she could, right?"

The black reaper's face darkened, "I don't think so. Not extensively, at least. Early in fourth year, Summer got a letter from them telling her she couldn't come home because it was too dangerous. It broke her heart."

"Oh…" Ruby sighed, "Do you think they're still out there?"

"Like I said, kiddo, maybe," Qrow replied. The two sat together for a while, before Qrow patted her on the shoulder and motioned towards the tent, "Alright kid, it's time we get to sleep. We've got some big days ahead of us."

As Ruby went back to the tent to sleep, Qrow took his hand off of his abdomen, revealing the hideously purple wound to the world. His hand was stained with a similar, deep shade of purple miasma.

"Fuck me…" Was all he could murmur before he fell into a semi-conscious slumber.

* * *

 _Fort Rift… A day later…_

Summer stood in the Command deck of the Avenger, looking over the holographic display projected by the center terminal. Almost as soon as the majority of the first wave of soldiers came through, she had assigned them all tasks, a quarter were on guard, a quarter scouting the first few dozen kilometers from the base while the last half, plus all the SPARK focused on construction of the base. Bradford had taken to command the guarding troops along with some other high ranking members of XCom, whereas Shen had elected to aid in the construction of the base's defences. Which ranged from artillery implements to the main walls.

Unfortunately, that meant she had to micromanage the entirety of the scouting parties.

 _"_ _Commander, a call from one of the scouting parties,"_ an automated, and totally not AI, voice spoke, " _Rogue Squad, to be exact."_

 _ **(AN: Think of Failsafe from Destiny, but the cheery personality, not the Emo one.)**_

"Put it through."

" _Commander, Grimm nest reported one click to the west, Engage?"_ A male soldier's voice spoke over comms.

"How big, Rogue Leader?" She said, shifting the table to the scanned area, revealing the area where the squad of a dozen or so soldiers.

" _From what I can see, Commander, around four dozen tangos, mostly ground-based,"_ the man replied.

"You said mostly, what are the flyers?"

" _Two big bird-like things and ten or so gryphon looking fuckers."_

"So two Nevermores and ten Griffons, alright," Summer mused, "Ground?"

" _Half of them are the wolves, third are the bears, and the rest are the scorpions,"_ the soldier replied, " _And… wait, one of the elephants."_

"So eighteen Beowolves, twelve Ursa, six Deathstalkers and a Goliath…" Summer said, holding her chin, "Have they seen you?"

" _Not yet, Commander,"_ the man stated, " _Our Templar friend here has managed to mask us from 'em while we're moving up on them."_

"Heavy ordnance?"

" _Yeah, we have some. Two Blaster launchers and two Minigunners."_

"How far out are you?"

" _Four hundred meters out right now, Commander."_

"Then you are clear to engage," Summer responded, "Deal with the flyers first, preferably the Nevermores-"

" _The birds?"_

"Yes, the birds," Summer facepalmed, "Then take care of the Goliath. Those are your biggest threats. And remember, be careful."

" _Understood, Commander."_

Summer closed the line, shifting her attention to a small settlement where another two squadrons of a dozen each had previously helped in fending off a Grimm attack, "Banshee Leader, report."

" _The Grimm attack is off, Commander,"_ the female squad leader reported, " _Locals are asking us if we're from Atlas, what should we tell 'em?"_

"Say we're here to help, Banshee Leader," Summer replied, "Injuries?"

" _Ten civilians, one… Huntsmen, I think that's what they said were,"_ The woman said, " _Happened before we got here. Most of the wounds don't look that serious. Our squads are fine, though, Hound leader is just talking with the mayor. No injuries on our side."_

"Good," Summer nodded to herself, "Did your squad bring medical supplies?"

" _Of course Commander,"_ the woman responded, " _I already have some of the troops treating the wounded. Hound squadron is currently patrolling the area."_

"I'll leave you to it, then," Summer said as she cut the channel, "Oracle, enlarge the viewing area to just sixty kilometers in radius."

" _Of course, Commander."_

The holographic table's projection enlarged to just reach the edge of Vale, which was just a bit more than sixty kilometers northwest from the Fort.

"Highlight all known settlements within that range, coloured blue," Summer spoke, "And all possible Grimm nest in Black."

" _Understood, Commander. I do like colouring,"_ Oracle replied.

"I'm going to regret having Vahlen bring you online," Summer muttered to herself.

 _"Pardon, Commander?"_

"Nothing," Summer said, "What are the numbers?"

" _Of the scanned area, six settlements, ranging in prospective population from one hundred to one thousand,"_ Oracle cheerfully stated, " _Twenty two possible Grimm nests… Oh, never mind, Twenty one. It would appear as if Rogue squad completed their task flawlessly."_

"Excellent," Summer said with a smile, "How far along is the Base?"

" _Base perimeter walls are being erected, and will be done by nightfall, if I am correct,"_ the AI responded, " _Basic housing for the current amount of troops will be completed by mid afternoon."_

Summer's smile widened, "That's good to hear. Have you managed to locate Alpha yet?"

" _While I am capable of tracking Psionic energy, it can prove difficult,"_ she said back, " _But I'm sure given some time we will be able to locate them."_

"How much time are we talking about?"

" _At most, a two days, Commander,"_ Oracle replied.

Summer nodded, "Then keep scanning. I'll check back in soon," she turned to leave the Command deck but as she did she remembered something, "Oh, and if any squad needs to report in, ping it to me. I'm going to go do some stuff so that I'm not totally bored out of my mind."

" _Understood,"_ the AI said, " _I'll let you know if the situation changes."_

Summer resumed her walk to her room, nodding in acknowledgement as she passed by some of the Avenger's crew complement, specifically some of the scientists still aboard the ship. She got to the room, going over to her closet to pull out her cloak and a black corset and skirt. Quickly, she changed out of her uniform into her regular clothes for Remnant. Draping the soft yet deceptively sturdy fabric over her shoulders, she pinned the cloak in place with her rose broach. Spinning once in a mirror, she strapped her sword to her waist.

Satisfied with her outfit, she then picked up her datapad, swiping through the many books she had downloaded onto the device. Some of almost every genre available, and though she had read a good number of them, there were still many more to finish. Content with her choice of book, she placed her datapad on her belt, moving herself over in front of her mirror.

She sighed, "How am I gonna do this…" she muttered to herself, "Should I rip the bandaid off…? Yeah, that would probably be best…"

She took a deep breath and faced herself dead in her reflection's eyes, "Hey, Ruby. So in case you weren't told about this before now, Qrow's actually your dad, Tai's actually your uncle, Yang's actually your paternal cousin and… that doesn't sound right…"

Summer sighed, "That's probably just going to make her more mad… maybe… maybe I should get Qrow to sit down with us and we talk it out in private. Like in the bar or something… having Gabriel talk to her might also work. She trusts him."

"Or Tai, she trusts him to," she mused, "Would he be the best to break the news?"

She nodded to herself, "I mean, I do have to be the one to tell her, but if one of them is there if might make it easier on her."

"Oh gods, I don't know what to do…" Summer keeled over into a kneeling position, "I wish dad was here…" some tears fell from her eyes, "He'd know what to do… he always knew what to do."

She huffed, "He did always suggest meditating on these things, maybe that might help."

Once again, she unclipped her datapad from her belt, "Oracle, I might be unavailable for the next little while, could you contact Merek or Ferris to take over?"

" _Sure thing, Commander,"_ Oracle cheerfully answered back.

"Oh, and while you're at it, watch my vitals," Summer continued, placing the datapad on her bed, "Don't want anything too serious to happen while I'm meditating."

" _Of course."_

With that, Summer dimmed the lights down by half and sat in the center of her room, cross legged. She closed her eyes, laying her hands palm up on her legs as her breathing started to slow down.

" _In…"_ she took a long, slow deep breath, " _Hold…"_ a few seconds past as she waited, holding tightly to the air in her lungs, " _Out…"_ she breathed, slowly releasing the air.

" _In… Hold… Out…"_ the voice in her head thought as the breathing patterns became more rhythmic and less forced.

" _In… Hold... Out…"_ around her, Summer felt the world slow. She could hear the footfalls of soldiers and scientists throughout The Avenger. The distinctive sound of a Plasma Rifle discharging it's payload of raw energy at whatever unfortunate sack that happened to be on the wrong end of the weapon.

" _In… Hold… Out…"_ it was slow, but she felt herself drifting into a trance-like state. She could practically feel the world around her peel away.

" _In…"_

" _Hold…"_

" _Out…"_

" _In… hold on,"_ she thought, her nose twitching a slight bit, " _Lavender?"_

 _Her eyes blinked open and she was greeted to quite the familiar sight. No longer was she in her room aboard the Avenger, rather she now sat in her old living room, the one back home. Summer glanced around, looking at all the old furniture, the embroidered pillows on the three red and white chairs and and the similarly coloured and embroidered couch. According to her father, they were made by his grandmother a few decades before the Great War broke out between the kingdoms. In the center of the room there was a coffee table, around which the chairs were arranged in a semicircle, with the couch facing one of the long sides of the table._

" _Why… why am I back here?" Summer thought._

" _Because this is where you needed to be, little bloom," a voice, which Summer keenly and almost immediately recognized as her mother's, spoke from behind her._

 _Summer flicked around, cloak flapping behind her as she did. She locked eyes with her mother, who was holding a tray with a tea pot and some small, ornate, handcrafted white clay cups, adorned with decorative red roses. She stood there, facing her elder doppelganger, until her mother broke the silence held between the two, "Well, are you just going to stand there, slack-jawed or would you like to sit down and have some tea?" the old lady scolded._

" _I… I… of course," Summer said, sitting on one of the chairs as Mariam sat on the couch. The older silver eyed warrior poured out two cups of the lavender tea in the pot, "Thank you."_

" _You're very welcome," Mariam replied, "You look a lot older. A bit more like your father with that scar there," the older woman gestured to her face._

" _Thanks, I guess," Summer said, "I mean, it's only one scar."_

 _Mariam smiled, "He'd be proud if he saw you now."_

 _Summer's face turned pale with worry for the old man's health, "Is he-"_

" _Don't worry about your father," Mariam laughed, "We may be old, but you know your father is as stubborn as a mule. He wouldn't stay down even if Salem impaled him on his own sword. But I'm assuming your father isn't the reason why you're here now, correct?"_

" _Well… yeah, sorta," Summer replied, "I… I need some advice."_

" _About?"_

" _Breaking the news to Ruby," The younger woman said, "I… I don't know how to tell her about Qrow and I."_

" _You could always ask the blond one, Tai. He's raised her for the past decade and a half," Mariam suggested, "Or you could ask your brother."_

" _Yeah, I thought about that- hold up," Summer said, confused, "You know my brother is on Remnant?"_

" _Your father and I sensed him the moment he came home, yes," Mariam nodded._

" _And that his name is Gabriel, right?"_

" _So that's his name. Gabriel. Hmm, I like it," Mariam mused, speaking the name a few more times, "When he was born his name was Solis. But I digress, yes, I knew. Not the name specifically, but we knew who he was."_

" _And you didn't go talk to him?!"_

" _Of course not! I highly doubt he would've actually believed either of us," Mariam chuckled, "That said, I did make a few trips at night to check up on him. You know, just after Vale fell."_

" _But… wait, why didn't you go? You could've prevented Vale's fall, Mom! I know you could've!" Summer exclaimed, somewhat annoyed at her mother for not intervening to protect Vale._

" _And in doing so, we would've condemned many more people to die in much worse a way," her mother calmly replied, "Summer, you must understand, your father and I have been working tirelessly to protect the whole of Remnant. Salem has numberless hordes waiting for the one moment that we let our guard down."_

" _But you said you managed to…"_

 _Mariam nodded, acknowledging her daughter's point, "I only got the chance because Salem's attacks were somewhat smaller over the few months following the invasion of Vale. She has more forces, but she was trying to build them up. She sent countless hoards against us as Vale was attacked. Believe me, my child, if I could have stood by my homeland's side in that fight, I would've, but we would all have suffered for it."_

" _But…" Summer sighed realizing that her mother was indeed correct, "Fine, you're right. Back to the thing I wanted to know."_

" _Ah yes, how to tell Ruby that her father is the man she thought to be her uncle. Well, as I said, you have people who can help you break the news," Mariam thought out loud, "Like I said, Ruby trusts Tai and I assume she trusts her other uncle just the same. Yang, your niece-"_

" _I still consider her my daughter, mom," Summer adamantly said._

" _I know, Summer, I know. I simply state fact," Mariam replied, "Regardless of who helps you to tell Ruby, she will feel at least a bit betrayed by the fact. You'll need to give her time to adjust to her new life and she may never truly forgive you."_

 _Summer's expression turned sorrowful, "So that's it. She'll hate me."_

" _I never said that, little bloom," Mariam lifted Summer's chin up, their eyes meeting, "Forgiveness and hate are two very different things. You didn't hate your father and I for hiding your brother, but you never truly forgave either of us. Ruby will not hate you, but forgiveness for the lie that was her life will be harder to obtain."_

" _Are you sure?" Summer timidly asked._

" _I am positive," Mariam replied, "Now go. Save us all, little bloom."_

" _Wait, shouldn't we come and get you? We could save the world together!" Summer exclaimed as the world slowly started to fall away._

" _When the time is right, we will seek you out, my child," Mariam whispered as she placed a single delicate kiss atop her daughter's forehead, "Now is not that time."_

" _MOM!" Summer screamed as she began falling through the floor of her old home. All her mother did was smile her kindly old smile._

Summer woke from her trance with a start, a meter and a half in the air. Summer sighed, planting her feet back upon the ground.

"Leave it to mom to just tell me the obvious," she muttered, "How long was I out?"

Summer turned to her datapad, flicking it on with one hand, "Ten hours… huh, longer than I usually meditate for. Hey Oracle!"

" _Yes, Commander?"_

"How are the squads doing?"

" _So far, so good,"_ The AI cheerfully responded, " _So far, more than half of the major Grimm nests that were left before you started meditating have been wiped out."_

"How many exactly?"

" _Seventeen of the twenty-one have been wiped out so far."_

"That's lovely to hear," Summer said, "Were there any injuries?"

" _None major, Commander,"_ Oracle commented, " _None of our troops were injured, at least. Some of the towns that were attacked had wounded civilians. Three quarters were minor enough to be treated on sight, the rest were severe enough to warent transport to our medical facilities."_

"Have we been able to keep up with the influx?"

" _Only fourteen actually had to be transported back to the Fort, Commander. They are currently in the fort's Infirmary."_

"Good, good," Summer said, as she walked towards the door of her room, "How are local relations?"

" _Mostly good,"_ Oracle replied, " _Some of the so-called Faunus aren't exactly trusting, but most came around. A few even thought we were new Atlesian soldiers, Knights, some of them said."_

"Really, they thought we were those rust buckets?" Summer chuckled.

" _Reports say they were_ _quite surprised when one of the soldiers took off their helmet,"_ the AI stated.

"Of course they were," Summer rolled her eyes, "Made any progress on Alpha's exact location?"

" _Somewhat. I was able to trace their general direction to Vale, but I couldn't pinpoint their exact location."_

The silver-eyed woman nodded, "Well, that makes sense, seeing Gabriel was near Beacon when I contacted him. I doubt they went all that far."

"Hmm, maybe Tai knows where they are…" Summer mused, "Hey, Oracle do you think we could get in contact with Tai from here?"

" _It is possible, yes. Who is Tai?"_

"He's an old friend," Summer said, "You'd probably have to hack the CCT network, if it still exists."

" _I will see what I can do,"_ Oracle replied, " _I am very good at hacking things."_

"That does rely on the network to be present, right?" Summer queried.

" _Possibly,"_ Oracle stated, " _Or I could just run their old network through our own."_

"You think we have the bandwidth?"

" _I am almost certain."_

Summer nodded, "Oracle, get that set up, I need to make a call."

* * *

 _Xiao-Long Household… Six hours later…_

"Keep it up, Yang, come on!" Darren shouted, slipping under one of Yang's punches while parrying another thrown just seconds after, "You're doing great!"

Yang grunted, lashing out with her fists, with a left hook to her opponent's head. Darren easily batted the strike aside, wacking the blonde brawler in face with the back of his hand. Yang took the hit, throwing an uppercut at the man's gut with her cybernetic arm. Darren caught the strike, shifting his weight to reap the blonde brawler's legs from under her, which he accomplished quite easily.

"You give?" Darren queried with a wide Cheshire grin.

"Like hell I will!" Yang growled in response, placing one of her feet on Darren's hips. She rolled back, monkey throwing Darren two meters away. However, in one fluid motion, Darren rolled out of the fall, standing right back up.

"Well, you seem to be getting better," Darren remarked, patting the dirt off of his shirt, "How's the arm?"

"It feels… interesting," Yang said, "But it doesn't feel the same, y'know? Like it feels natural, but… I dunno, something's different."

"Well, no I don't know, but I get the concept," Darren shrugged, "Hey Tai, wanna step in and give your daughter a round?"

"Sure," Tai replied, putting down his trowel and removing his wide-brimmed hat, "I don't see why not. You good for another one, Yang?"

"Yeah, just gimme a minute," Yang said, grabbing a bottle of water and drinking at least half of its contents, "We've been sparing for an hour straight, I could use a break."

Darren grabbed a towel, tossing it over to Yang, who wiped down her forehead. Darren himself sat down on the ground, patting Zwei upon his head, "I gotta say, kid," Darren chuckled, "You're getting back into the swing of things easily."

"Well, I'm still not you or dad," Yang replied, "I still got a long way to go."

"Well, then we keep training," Tai commented, "I gotta say though, dragon, you're able to keep up well enough."

"Well, keeping up and fighting on the same level are two very different things. Besides, you guys are going easy on me."

Darren rolled his eyes, "Well, if you want me to go all out, I can. You might just be in pain for a few days. And honestly, kid, I've been doing this sorta thing since I could walk. Muay Thai, kickboxing, MMA. Honestly, I'm surprised that you were able to keep up with me at all. Even without your semblance and all."

"It probably wouldn't even help," Yang smirked, "I mean, even back at Beacon when I sparred against you with my Semblance, you still beat me."

"Y'see, that's your issue," Tai said, "You rely on your semblance too much to win fights. You don't think, you just hit things."

"Yeah, so what? Ruby does too, but no one criticizes her."

"Well, Ruby's isn't just a flat power boost," Darren said, "Sure, yeah, Weiss, Blake, and Ruby use their semblance extensively in most fights. But with you, it's a bit different."

"How so," Yang queried, cocking her eyebrow.

"Well, think about it," Tai explained, "Your semblance is basically just a big temper tantrum. You get pissed, and you start hitting people harder. You lose control, effectively."

"Yeah, so? Gabriel's lost control before," Yang replied, "How am I any different than that?"

"Hell, all four of us have lost control," Darren said, "Angela almost vapourized a UFO once, Anne caused a storm system that covered the entirety of Paris. Hell, I fought a Berserker Omega once with my bare hands. Thing was a bit bigger than that Paladin Torchwick stole. Main reason you're different, Yang, is that we don't lose control all the time. You use your semblance like it's nothing."

"So you're saying I use my semblance too much, right?"

"Sorta, yeah," Tai shrugged, "Think about it, your semblance should be a trump card. With Ruby, it's speed, not a trump card in any sense of the word. When you use your semblance so often, it'll become easy to predict and people will start baiting it out."

"It's sorta like Ruby's psionics, really," Darren commented, "Usually, newer psions tend to feel emotions more intensely which she needs to learn how to control, otherwise she could hurt someone."

"But I won't hurt people I care about," Yang growled angrily in response, "I'm not that bad."

"You never know, Yangalang," Darren chuckled, "That said, I doubt you would intentionally hurt anyone you care about."

"Thanks," Yang smiled.

"Anyway, you still do need to learn how to reign in your semblance."

"OH COME ON!" Yang shouted,cupping her face in her hands, "I've gotten better! So much better! Can't you both see that?"

"Like I've been saying for years, Dragon," Tai said. "You can't just go through every problem you meet."

"He certainly can," Yang dejectedly pointed at Darren, "So why can't I?"

"First, I never said I go through every obstacle I come up against," Darren firmly said, "Just cause I could if I hit it hard enough doesn't mean I should. I could win a war with my fists, but that would put me in danger, so I made armour, weapons modifications. I might fight with my fists, but no battle is won without this," he pointed at his head, "Some problems you can't solve by punching your way through them. So, instead of repeatedly bashing you skull against a wall trying to find out how to beat something, use their own strengths against them. Bigger baddy? More surface area to hit, more weak points. My point is Yang, you need to use your head more."

"..." Yang didn't respond, still sitting on the dirt.

"Ok, look, I'm sorry about lecturing you, Yang," Darren apologised, "Just… try to take what Tai and I said to heart, got it?"

"..." Yang sighed, "Fine. I'll try."

Tai smiled and gestured for Yang to stand up, "Good. Now, let's get started."

"I'm just gonna go and use your washroom, that good?" Darren queried as the two Xiao-Longs began to circle each other.

"You're good, go ahead!" Tai called out in response.

Darren nodded in reply, stepping through the door and into the wooden home, which quite frankly, looked a lot more modern than it's outer walls would portray. He walked up the stairs to the washroom, not really in a hurry, but definitely moving with purpose. He turned into the washroom, quickly relieving himself with a heavy sigh.

As he left the washroom, he heard both the voices of Yang and Tai ring out with laughter. He smirked, maybe one day he could teach his own daughter how to fight, just like Tai did with Yang.

As he began to walk back down, he noticed Tai's scroll sitting on the coffee table. He was about to walk past it when he noticed something wasn't right with the scroll's display, which showed it being connected to some network.

" _Strange…"_ he thought, " _Vale's CCT network has been down since the fall… So either someone brought it back online or this is something new entirely."_

Then the scroll began to receive a call from an unknown caller, their icon showing up as a default grey humanoid avatar. Darren, as curiosity got the better of him, plucked the scroll from the table and pressed the answer button.

"Yello? New phone, who's this?" Darren said, almost mocking the idiot that decided to call. He wasn't going to make Tai answer, seeing how he and Yang were in a very important father-daughter bonding moment.

" _My name, sir, is Summer Rose."_

Darren, upon hearing the name, wanted to shout and scream at the top of his lungs the entire song of Hallelujah, but restrained himself, "And what might you want to know on this lovely day, Ms. Rose?"

Summer responded, sounding as authoritative as possible, " _May I know who I'm speaking with?"_

"It... it's me, Darren," he said as his face lit up, "Y'know, big strong guy. Anne-Marie's husband. Member of Alpha squad. Ring any bells, Commander Rose?"

" _Hold up, Darren?"_ Summer spoke, quite confused, " _What are you doing with Tai's scroll? Where's Tai?"_

"Currently outside, sparing with Yang," Darren said, "So, how's the past little bit been, Summy?"

" _Well… Could've been better. I barely got a day off for three months straight. And I know what happened to Gabriel."_

"Yeah, well, who doesn't?" Darren replied, "He's good, though."

" _How's Ruby? Qrow?"_ Summer questioned, sounding quite concerned.

"Well… I haven't heard from either of them for the better part of a few months," Darren said, "No one has. But Qrow went off after her, and she's with Team JNPR, so she's probably fine."

" _I hope you're right…"_ Summer said, " _I'm assuming you're on Patch right now, correct?"_

"Well, yeah. I'm at your house. Which is on Patch."

" _Ha ha, very funny,"_ Summer replied, " _Anyway, thanks for picking up. I'll be there soon. Could you get ready to move out?"_

"You do know Anne and I have a kid, right?" Darren said, "A baby, I mean. Gabe and Angela have two, plus they adopted another."

" _I know, which is why I made sure to give you four and your kids dedicated quarters,"_ Summer replied, " _Don't worry, I've taken every precaution. You're kids are gonna be fine. Believe me, I brought an army."_

"If you say so, Summy," Darren sighed, "I'll get us ready. Anything else?"

" _Well… it's good to hear from you again, Darren."_

"Same, Summer. See you soon," and with that, Darren plopped the scroll back down upon the table, and rushed outside, where he saw Tai and Yang embracing each other. He rushed past them, speaking quite quickly as he went, "Sorry to bother you but you should really go and pack some clothes and stuff cause we're gonna be going on a trip, do it fast and now!"

"PARDON?" Tai shouted back as Darren continued to sprint away.

"PACK YOUR SHIT, WE'RE LEAVING IN TWENTY!"

"WHY?"

"JUST FUCKING DO IT, YOU TWAT!"

Darren continued to sprint, vaulting over a car, shifting his way through a crowd of people with expert efficiency, "Scuse me, coming though!" he said as he slid between two women having a chat.

A few moments later and Darren had returned to his house where Anne was sitting on the couch, breastfeeding Moira, who looked both hungry and eager. Anne smiled as she saw her husband enter the house, "Hey darling, how was sparring?"

"Amazing, Anne, gotta go pack."

"Pack?" Anne inquired, "Pack for what?"

"Summer's back!" Darren shouted in response, "She brought an army and needs our help!"

"Oh. She does know we have a kid, right? We can't just abandon her."

Darren sighed, "She took precautions! Or so she said!"

"What kind of percussion?"

"I don't know! I'm not a telepath!"

Anne playfully giggled shouting back up to her husband, "Yes, you are!"

"Oh shut up! You know what I meant! Even if I wanted to read her mind, it wouldn't just be a thing I could do on a whim!"

"Fair. Just make sure you pack enough for two weeks. I'll let Angie know," Anne smirked as she whistled for Asimov. The drone came floating over, humming delightfully, "Hey Asimov, could you send a message to Angela so she can start packing for a trip. We're going to have to leave soon."

Asimov nodded, if a drone can nod, leaving the room in a hurry to deliver the message. Anne smiled as she walked over to the stroller, softly placing Moira down so the small baby could rest a bit. Anne smiled as the babe drifted softly off to rest and she decided to walk upstairs after Darren.

She entered their room silently, as she saw Darren throwing several dozen items of clothing into two suitcases, though he did ensure that all the clothes were folded.

"So Summer is back, huh?"

Darren shrugged, "Yeah, she's back. And now we're going to war."

"Oh goody," Anne sighed, "She brought an army?"

"Sure as shit she did," Darren said, "Earth's governments might've actually gotten their shit together."

"Now that's just hopeful thinking, darling," Anne grabbed her husband around his waist.

"Well, a guy can hope," Darren chuckled.

"We all can," Anne snuggled herself deeper into Darren's back, "Maybe when we go back we'll finally get a day off. We might even get to go to a resort or something."

"You mean have some time off that isn't spent watching over our shoulders or fighting some proxy war?" Darren mused, to which Anne nodded in reply.

"Please don't get my hopes up," Anne smiled, "Oh don't get my hopes up. You know we're always going to have to look over our asses."

Darren shrugged, choosing not to respond to Anne's statement. He zipped up the suitcases, picking the both of them up, "Hey, mind grabbing Ragnarok? I am carrying these, afterall."

Anne nodded, "I'll throw it in the car. Where are we meeting Summer and the rest of the gang?"

"I think Tai's house."

"Alrighty," Anne replied as a familiar, overpowering thrumming of engines was heard overhead, "Well, there they are. Let's get going."

The two began to walk downstairs, Anne grabbing Ragnarok and her disruptor Rifle, placing them both in their car before rushing back inside to grab Moira and lock the doors. When she got back, Darren was already sitting in the driver's seat, while Asimov was in the back. Quickly, Anne placed Moira's car seat into the back, before situating herself in her own seat.

"Alright, we're good. Lets go," Anne said, the hum of the car starting as Darren began driving down Patch's dirt road towards the hum of the Avenger's engines. The towering, seventy five meter tall monolith of alien/human engineering stood upon the ground, it's massive landing gear supporting it's bulk. At the base, as two skyrangers took flight to descend to the house, stood Angela, Gabriel, Emerald, Tai and Yang, all waiting, with Jane and Aaron in their parent's arms.

Darren pulled up beside the group and began to unload the car along with Anne, "Helluva day, ain't it Gabe?"

"Damn right, bud," Gabriel replied, as the first skyranger touched down, it's ramp lowering to reveal a woman in a black corset and a flowing, white cloak, "Hey Summer."

"Hey…" Summer meekly replied, "I'm back…"

At that moment, everyone's reactions were completely different. Tai, for one, was frozen and almost completely unable to act at all. Most of Alpha, along with Emerald, simply waved and smiled. Gabriel, as his only arm was occupied, gave a nod of recognition. Yang though…

She could barely contain herself, rushing forward to engulf the woman who raised her in a vicious bear-hug, crying tears of joy and some of sorrow as she did.

"There, there little dragon I'm back… I promised, didn't I?" Summer patted the blonde's head, "We've got a lot to discuss. Come on, I've got just the place," She gestured to the massive construct, "Besides, we need to find Ruby, so every moment we're not on the move is one we aren't spending locating her, so let's move."

No one argued, everyone just got their things and moved them aboard the two skyrangers. The people (And dog, because both Yang and Tai refused to leave Zwei), in one, while the luggage was in the other.

"So… Tai, I'm assuming you and Qrow didn't tell them?" Summer whispered in Tai's ear, to which Tai turned pale as Zwei jumped into his lap, "We'll talk about it later."

"Anyway," Summer cooed, looking at the three small babies, "Awe… I told you guys you'd have cute kids."

"Well…" Gabriel chuckled, "I guess that's just a trait we all share, don't we?"

Summer chuckled and smiled at Angela, "May I hold her?" to which Angela nodded, passing Jane over to the silver-eyed woman. Summer cooed again, slowly rocking her back and forth.

Yang, at that point, decided to ask, "So… mom… where have you been?"

"I've been…" Summer paused, pondering her words, "Well, for the past eight months or so, I've been working with the government to approve a military operation on Remnant. One that could end the Grimm for good, if it is a success."

"Hold on, you managed to convince every single government on Earth to do a thing?" Darren inquired, "Jeez, how the fuck did you manage that?"

Tai looked confused, "You're in the military?"

"Yes, Tai, I am. And no, I really didn't convince every government on Earth, I just convinced **THE** government. The only one that exists. Since you four disappeared, Earth's old government consolidated into one big one."

"Really?" Anne replied, dumbfounded that the governments of Earth actually managed to get their heads out of their asses for once in their lives, "Huh, this is… surprisingly good news."

"So wait, mom, what you're saying is this so-called 'Earth' is sending troops to Remnant?" Yang said, "Wait, what is Earth?"

"Earth is a planet, dear."

"You've been living with aliens!?"

Angela shrugged, "I mean… technically she was? Is currently? We're all human, so no, but… Okay, I guess it's a bit confusing."

"So you're all aliens," Tai mused, chuckling to himself as he pet the corgi in his lap.

"Well… yes, but no…" Darren replied, "We're still human, so no."

"But you're from a different planet," Emerald said, "So my parents are aliens."

Gabriel groaned, "This conversation is so damn stupid it's making fucking head hurt. Believe me, we've all seen real aliens. We aren't aliens."

"So were you four the scouts?" Yang joked, "And this is the rest of the invasion?"

"God, Yang, please stop," Summer sighed, "This isn't an Alien invasion, this is a way for us to finally take the fight to the Grimm. It might even be a fight we can win."

The skyranger came to a halt as it landed on the top of the Avenger. Everyone disembarked quickly, the travellers acquiring their clothing as soon as they could. Summer turned to the assembled group, gesturing to Gabriel, "Tygan will probably want to see you. We should be able to fabricate a prosthetic arm for you in no time."

Gabriel nodded, handing Aaron over to Angela before walking off into the hull of the ship to find the scientist, Summer smiling as her brother walked away, "And for everyone else, I'm just going to show you to your rooms now. Follow me.

"Oh, and for those who haven't been here before, welcome to the Avenger."

* * *

 _Oscar…_

" _I'm not crazy… I'm not crazy…"_

Oscar fell to his knees, breathing heavily. The visions over the past month have gotten worse, the memories still kept flooding in.

" _No, Oscar, you're not."_

Oh, and he had started to talk to a spirit in his head.

"Yeah? Well, I feel crazy," Oscar replied as he managed to prop himself up on his wooden bed, "Spirit living in my head and all."

" _Well I wouldn't really consider myself a spirit, more a collective consciousness,"_ Ozpin's voice said, " _Though I am the only one who can speak to you."_

"Oh great, more of you," Oscar growled under his breath.

" _I heard that."_

"You know everything I do, you're in my head," Oscar threw his backpack on his bed, "So.. just to get this clear as crystal. You want me to up and leave my comfortable home, with a bed not made of dirt-"

" _I never once said you had to sleep on the dirt."_

"Whatever, you want me to leave my home and go on some quest to stop your wife from destroying the world and you need me to find who?"

" _Three people. You'll recognize them when you see them."_

"And I have a choice in this?"

Ozpin didn't respond to the question, so Oscar pressed, "And if I say no, you're going to possess me and make me do it, aren't you."

" _It's not that simple. You and I both know that you don't want to spend your life on this farm. You yearn for adventure, something to happen in your life that isn't sitting around."_

"And how do you know that?" Oscar replied, "Maybe I just want to stay put, let qualified people deal with this situation."

" _Oscar, I know what you want because I am you. Right now, I feel your every emotion, every thought. I am as much you as you are you. I am a part of you now. Besides,"_ Ozpin chuckled to himself, " _You're the one packing your bag."_

Oscar placed a few more shirts and pants into his back "You were the one who told me to," he retorted.

" _No, I just said we had a job and that there were people we could help. I never forced you to pack the bag."_

"Fine, you got me. Maybe I don't want to live on this farm for the rest of my life. Maybe I would like to do something a little more productive," Oscar relented, grabbing a map of Anima.

" _Very good."_

"So where do we have to go?" Oscar said as he zipped up his full backpack, throwing it over his back.

" _Have you ever heard of the town Kuroyuri?"_

Oscar froze as he was halfway out his opened window, "You want me to go to that ghost town? Are you crazy?"

" _No, I'm quite serious. It's the best chance of finding anyone to help,"_ Ozpin replied.

"No one's lived there for more than a decade! The place is haunted! How do you even know that we'll even get there at the same time?"

" _Trust me, we will. It's a three-day walk from here if you sleep six hours a night and walk twelve a day."_

Oscar sighed, "Fine. Let's go."

The farm boy then leapt out the window, rolling out of the fall as he stood up, "Didn't know I could do that. Cool."

" _You're starting to get my muscle memory. While you still will need to train, you will have a bit of a jumpstart compared to others."_

"Great…" Oscar muttered as he wiped off his map, "So Kuroyuri is… south-west. If I take that road I should make it there in good time."

" _If we don't get sidetracked, that is,"_ Ozpin said advisingly.

"I won't get sidetracked," Oscar replied.

" _Well then, let us get going, Oscar. I have a feeling this is going to be quite fun for the both of us,"_ Oscar could practically feel Ozpin smiling in his subconscious, " _Who knows, you might even make some new friends."_

* * *

 ** _Alright, So yes, Micheal and Mariam will have a bigger role to play later in the story, though they will mostly act as advice-giving characters as of current. Summer and the family have finally reunited, Yang will learn the truth as of the next chapter, Oscar will meet up with Ruby and her group and holy balls do I hate school._**

 ** _Anyway, please let me know if I'm still doing well in the reviews and have a nice day._**


	17. New pieces, new players

**_Well, I'm back. Sorry about this chapter being slightly shorter than normal, I've been working like hell over the past little bit. Oh, and I'm a procrastinating piece of shit, so y'know, normal things. Regardless, Xcom Chimera Squad came out and I don't think I'll be incorporating it in. The game doesn't really make a lot of sense in Xcom lore, all things considered._**

 ** _Review wise, time to answer:_**

 ** _Ranjira1988: Again, thanks for the positive reviews, it means a lot to me._**

 ** _Kian Kier Rossau: Regarding Cinder, I will try to make her less a cartoon villain and more an actual person. Yes, the first little bit of this chapter will explain her a bit more, but I want to keep most of her backstory somewhat of a secret for now._**

 ** _Darkvampirekisses: First, no I've never played Tales of Symphonia and second, yes Summer is the Commander._**

* * *

 _Evernight Castle, The Grimmlands_

Nine months ago, Cinder felt a number of emotions. Rage, for example, was one of them. When Wraith had extracted her from her fight against that SON OF A WHORE Gabriel, she had wanted to go right back and kill the man where he stood. And for that matter, kill the brat and her little girlfriend as well. But Wraith pointed out that there were more people coming and she was exceptionally injured, doing so would be suicide. Just with extra steps.

A month later, she learned from Salem herself about Emerald and her new life with the bastard who took her arm, her eye, her chance at some form of power and control over her own life. In the span of barely a day, she had lost everything, the only things that she really ever cared about.

Even nine months after the fall of Beacon, she still felt a burning rage against all of them, each and every one of them. But her hate for Emerald, the girl she saved, seemed to burn the brightest of all. Was it betrayal? Abandonment? Both?

Cinder rolled over on her bed, wincing in pain. While Salem's castle was monolithic and imposing, ebony black spikes made from some unnatural metal jutting out from all sides in equally unnatural ways, it's interior could at times be comforting. The interior of her quarters were black and red, the purple sheets of her bed surprisingly soft to the touch. The lights were dim, not so much that one couldn't see but just enough to give off a sort of warm feeling. Not that it really helped soothe her in any way.

When Salem gave her another arm, the Grimm one, the Queen had forgotten to give her any sort of warning about the side effects. Such as the pain it sometimes brought. She asked Salem, to which the Grimm Queen explained that the arm, the Maiden power and her Aura were… not playing nicely together. Specifically, both her aura and the powers of the maiden were rejecting the new arm as it was Grimm.

Which arguably should've been the first thing she asked when Salem set about creating the arm for her. As much as she hated to admit it, the cybernetic one Watts had proposed has somewhat become slightly more appealing than her current predicament, despite her general hatred of him.

The door creaked open, "Hello Cinder," Salem cooed as she slid in the slightly open door, "I assume your arm is causing issues again, no?"

"No… mistress…" Cinder groaned out in response.

Salem rolled her black eyes and sighed, "Then why haven't I seen you training, hmm? You are the same girl who wants to get revenge on that man… Gabriel, was it?"

Cinder didn't reply, only listening to the Grimm Queen's words.

"Ah yes, another lightborn…" Salem continued, "I'm surprised he managed to sneak under my radar for so long. Regardless of him, Cinder, I'm happy you survived as long as you did against him."

"Why…?" Cinder asked, "I still lost…"

"I never expected you to win," Salem bluntly replied, "The Silver-eyed are far more powerful then you could ever imagine. Believe me, I know."

"But… I thought…"

"Yes, we… more I have dealt with the Silver-eyed," Salem said, "And even then, I've only done so when absolutely necessary. The only time I would ever send any of you to fight one is if I know you would have an advantage over them."

Cinder sighed, "How long do you think my arm will keep acting up?"

"It depends," Salem replied, "I'd say… another week or so of constant use and your aura will accept it as part of your body."

"Then I'll start training to go after that piece of shit…" Cinder muttered.

"No."

Cinder turned over to face Salem, "Why not?! He took everything from me!"

"Simply, you aren't ready," Salem replied, "Even though he didn't use his eyes once in your fight. He won. If Wraith wasn't there to pull you out when he did, you would have died and all your work in acquiring the Fall Maiden's powers would have been for nothing."

"For now, you will train," Salem continued, "You will not leave this castle until I deem you prepared. Out of all the council, Wraith and I count you as the most important. The others… are expendable, at best."

"Expendable…?" Cinder rolled over to face the Grimm Queen.

Salem smiled, "I'll be frank, Cinder, dear. You and Wraith are the only irreplaceable members of my council. Tyrian is a lunatic, and I could probably find another one from an insane asylum for half the price. Ozpin has made enough enemies over his lifetime, so finding another Hazel would take me less than a day. Atlas has pushed off enough scientists and geniuses in the past decade or two, it would barely be a challenge to find another Watts."

"But you, Cinder, are so very important. Procuring a Maiden isn't easy, and yet you did so quite to the contrary," Salem said, "And then you managed to take Ozpin himself out. Not that he was ever really one to stay down for very long, but still. And Wraith is… Wraith and there is no replacement for him."

"I'm… irreplaceable?" Cinder was obviously surprised at what Salem had said.

"Of course…" Salem said, "While there are always going to be other maidens, acquiring their powers has proven difficult… I'd rather not have to do it again, if I could."

"So it's about convenience…?"

Salem frowned, though it was more a "you don't get it frown," than it was a threatening one, "Not entirely, no. I could throw out every other member of the council save for you and Wraith and find another in a week. But acquiring a maiden takes more than just a disgruntled person seeking revenge. Which is why it took me so long to get to you while you were still a servant girl in that Minstral crime ring. I had to ensure you were the correct candidate."

Cinder shuddered, "Please don't remind me about that…"

Salem rolled her eyes, "Very well. Though I expect you to continue training. If you ever want to have a chance at defeating Gabriel, I would suggest doubling the hours you spend a day. At the very least."

* * *

 _Aboard The Retribution, En route to Atlas…_

Lieutenant commander Luka Vasilevich was no stranger to conflict. Despite only being thirty years old, he had seen a lot of bloodshed, inheriting the position of commanding officer for the resistance he called home at nineteen years of age from his mother, who was gravely wounded during a raid on an Advent supply route.

Back then, it was mostly supply raids and attacks on Advent checkpoints. Occasionally, they struck gold and found some decommissioned MECs that they put to good use, other times they found Advent dropships and supplies like Elerium and Eronium. As Lieutenant Commander, he was responsible for training the soldiers that would go on these missions.

While he led the village militarily, his mother continued with her role in looking after the infrastructure of the village itself. At twenty two, Luka's mother succumbed to the stress that her prior injuries inflicted upon her, leaving him to run the village himself. As hard as it was, his village toughed through the Siberian winter, living off Caribou they caught in the fall months as they migrated southwards.

In the late spring of that year, Luka had been lucky enough to receive information on a prisoner transport moving near the region his town was located. He had dispatched some of his people to the location, laying down traps for the Advent bastards to fall right into. Luckly, the transport was lightly guarded, the Advent forces were defeated rather handily and the prisoners were freed. Even better were the prisoners who were freed, the twelve of them being a mix of GSG9, Spetsnaz, GROM and two of the people the special forces group had picked up in one of the city centers. And with their help and expertise, he did a lot more than just annoy Advent, he managed to actively piss them off.

Despite all that, he still was unsure about this conflict, primarily in the way of handling their enemy. Sure, Advent unleashed Chryssalids on humanity and against their town more than once, but that was only a small fraction of what Advent deployed on the regular. This time, all they fought were mindless monsters. At least with Advent's foot soldiers there were tactics they could exploit.

"What's got you so silent, mein Freund?" a feminine german voice spoke from behind him, "Now would usually be the time when you consult me about one of your plans, no?"

"Monika, I am not in the mood," Luka replied, intently staring at his holotable's projection of Solitas' terrain surrounding Atlas.

Monika chuckled, "When are you ever in the mood for anything other than staring at maps? You're more obsessed than der kommandant."

"She's not obsessed, Monika. We're facing a new enemy, with very little intel…"

"That she knows a whole hell of a lot about," Monika pointed out.

Luka turned around, facing Monika Weiss, a twenty-nine year old woman who originated from the Munich city center. She was one of the two people not in a special forces group that he picked up in the prisoner raid all those years ago. Despite that, she was a tech wiz, who had apparently been helping the twelve spec-ops members infiltrate the city centers to steal valuable intel on Advent operations. It all culminated in her getting captured, but she still put in serious work to screw with Advent over the three years she was active in Munich.

Luka sighed, "It's a new enemy for us. We haven't fought many things like this before."

"Chrysalids are sort of like this," Monika replied, "Mindless beasts that need to be put down and what not."

"But from what the Commander briefed me on, these creatures aren't entirely mindless," Luka said, "They grow, adapt."

"And the Chrysalids didn't?"

Luka's head hit hard on the holotable, causing the image to shudder, his mouth scrunching up, "Fine… they're like the chrysalids… but they sure as ад **(hell)** aren't bugs."

"Most of them, ja."

Luka rolled his eyes, returning his eyes to the holotable's display, "Disregarding the Grimm in their entirety, where do you think the best location to set up base?"

Monika looked at the map, "It's all tundra. You're the Russian, you decide."

"Fine, better question. Do you want to start the day off with Grimm in our ass or no?"

"Preferably no,"

Luka nodded and pointed to a relatively flat area on the holo-table, near a small village. The village itself was nearly one-hundred kilometres south east from Atlas, near the coast, "Well, then we're probably going to set up here. Seems like the most secure area to put down our base."

"Won't the locals think it's a bit weird?" Monika inquired, "An army just dropping out of the sky and setting up shop right in their backyard?"

"From what the Commander told me, they'd probably be very grateful," Luka smiled, "Settlements like these are vulnerable to attacks, so this one is no different. Any more help would probably be greatly appreciated."

Monika shrugged, "Right… but, even then, they still might not trust us. They might think we're gonna go impose some weird, otherworldly rules on them."

"I hope you know that I would never do that, Monika. We're here to keep people safe, not usurp a government."

"They might not take it that way."

Luka sighed as he put his hand to his forehead, "Yes, I remember what she said. Atlesian native tend to be the least welcoming of outsiders."

"Fair," Monika said as she sat down at one of the vacant terminals in the command deck, "Oh, well would you look at that. The Commander's sending us a call."

"Well, let's see what she has to say," Luka mumbled under his breath as he opened a line to the Avenger. A screen projected up, replacing the map, as Summer's face came into view, "Hello Commander. Too what do I owe this pleasure?"

" _I have a mission for you, Lieutenant Commander, one of utmost importance."_

Luka nodded, "I assume that the mission has something to do with our destination. What is it?"

" _I need you to retrieve someone,"_ Summer explained, as she brought up an image of four girls, one with a strikingly similar appearance to herself, " _The person is the white-haired girl in the image provided, Weiss Schnee, according to Yang. Her last known location is most likely her family's mansion, if I remember what type of person her father is."_

"And I assume you want us to bring her to you?"

" _Preferably, yes. And I don't think her father will just give her up easily,"_ Summer replied, " _You might have to extract her through some force. Just mention a friend of Ruby Rose sent you and she'll probably listen to you."_

"And if she doesn't?"

" _Put her in contact with me, she'll most likely agree to come with us,"_ Summer said, " _But as I said, her father is most likely going to be the biggest issue in her extraction."_

"Should we take him out?" Monika queried.

"Are you crazy, Monika? No, of course not!" Luka shouted, "That is an invitation for conflict!"

" _You are correct, Luka,"_ Summer agreed, " _Despite my own dislikes of Jacques Schnee, if he dies, I have no doubt that Atlas will crumble under the weight of its own resource requirements. When we make our way to Atlas, I'll see about offing him and replacing the SDC with something a bit more progressive. But as it stands, we need to keep the people of Atlas safe, and he is the one providing the materials to do so."_

"So what would you have us do, Commander? From the information you've given us and the stuff you just said now, he is going to be a massive problem," Monika retorted, as Summer sighed.

" _Fine, keep an eye on him and give him a warning to stay in line with us. All that being said, I'm giving you executive authority over the matter of supplies that might need to be given to Atlas. Preferably keep it to medical supplies and mid-grade Elerium generators. None of the high-level military tech yet."_

"I'm assuming you don't trust them?" Luka inquired.

Summer shook her head, " _I'm more worried about the rich insiders. Most of the military leaders I know and knew were responsible to a point. Heck, even with all that I heard about Ironwood from Anne and Angela, they still said he was a good leader, even if his head isn't on perfectly straight."_

"Well, if he's not a total сумасшедший сукин сын **(crazy son of a bitch)** … I'll open a line with him," Luka said, "It is possible that we could bring some Atlesian scientists over as a sort of… technological presentation."

" _That would be fine,"_ Summer approved, " _Anyways, I leave dealing with Atlas in your hands, Lieutenant Commander Kelly will be in touch if you need any more supplies or additional reinforcements. I'd expect the first scheduled group of reinforcements to arrive in a month."_

"Well, then we'll give them a warm welcome," Monika chuckled, "However warm it can be in that frozen hellscape."

" _It's not that bad,"_ Summer said, " _Just a bit frosty, that's all. Besides, Warden armour has built-in temperature regulation, so it's hardly like you're going to be freezing when you get up there."_

"And Luka's Russian," Monika joked, "It's not like it'll hurt him either way."

"I get it Monika, I can handle the cold," Luka growled.

" _Well, if that's all done, I'll be going now. I have to check up on Gabriel and how he's taking to his new arm."_

"Have a good day, Commander," Luka said as the screen flickered off, leaving the two soldiers standing next to the holotable, "With that done, I guess I'll be going to punch in the coordinates for the town and get us on course. Get some rest, Monika."

"God knows we'll need it," Monika replied.

* * *

 _The Avenger…_

"Alright, reconfiguration twelve is done," Lily said as she stepped back from the operation table, "Let's try picking up one of the glasses on the table next to you again."

In the past few hours, Gabriel had been undergoing a treatment that would grant him another, albeit metal, limb. The arm itself looked exceptionally similar to a real arm, with joints, something that looked like artificial muscle to match his other arm. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that the arm was metal and was a deep grey, he probably couldn't even tell the difference, it looked and felt so damn similar. During the few prior hours, his new limb had been attached and diagnostics to adjust several settings were performed, from sensitivity to range of motion. The most difficult one

He carefully moved his newly made arm, still not entirely acclimatized to his to the metal limb. He had to be delicate when he plucked the glass up, as it was difficult to control the pressure he applied on an object.

Which, unfortunately, led to him crushing yet another glass. As he dropped the shattered remains of the glass to the floor, he sighed, "Fucking damn it."

"Well, I'll try tweaking the settings again," Lily said as she brought up her datapad, "I… might've set the one of the pressure settings too high. Lemme just lower it."

Gabriel lay back down on the table as Lily once again connected her datapad to the robotic arm, "Alright… ah, that's where I messed up."

"What?"

"I overturned three of the muscle replacements, I've just gotta lower their sensitivity values a bit," Lily replied, "And… we should be good. You can try again."

Gabriel again plucked the glass from the table with much greater amounts of precision and delicacy. Already, the test showed improvement over the dozen that came before it, the lack of shattered glass being a definite plus.

"Well, it's working now. How's it feel?"

Gabriel put the glass back down, clenching his fist a few times, "Good. Feels like my actual arm did before I lost it. Only slightly more metallic."

"It's metal," Lily flatly replied, "What did you really expect? Skin?"

"Fair."

"Anyway, I think you should be good to head out and spend some time with the family," Lily said, "If anything goes haywire, just let me know and I'll do another diagnostic run."

"Sure thing, Lily," Gabriel nodded as he stood up, "You've done a lot over the past little while, haven't you?"

"Well, I did design a tank and design a program to crack an alien language. so yeah, I'd say it was productive."

Gabriel chuckled, "You're becoming more and more like your father every time I see you, y'know that?"

"Yeah… thanks, that means a lot," Lily smiled.

"First it was the SPARKs, now the tanks and… Just full of surprises, aren't yeah."

"SPARKs were mostly dad's design…" Lily said wistfully.

"You brought the program online, that deserves a good amount of credit."

Lily nodded, "Fair. Well, I'm heading back to the shop. Commander asked me if I could design some form of long-range artillery for Luka in Atlas."

"Seems like fun," Gabriel commented as the two began to leave the clinic, "I'll leave you to it. I'm gonna go check on Emerald, see if she's comfortable."

"Well, I'm here if that thing needs a checkup any time," Lily said as they parted ways.

Gabriel simply nodded in acknowledgement, walking down the metal halls of the Avenger. Before starting to get his arm, Summer had told him that Emerald, Yang and the rest of the kids, save for Oliva and the babies, would be staying in their own quarters on the level immediately below the command deck. The babies would be staying with himself, Anglea, Darren, Anne and possibly some others in their shared room on the same deck.

He soon passed some of the scientists and Engineers stationed aboard The Avenger, coming to one of the elevators. He stepped into the elevator, turning to face the door, pressing the button that would take him to the floor where Emerald was staying. The door started to close, only for someone to come running down the hall, screaming, "WAIT!"

Gabriel put his hand in front of the elevator door, halting its progress, as a young, twenty-two year old woman ran into the elevator beside him. She breathed out a sigh of relief as she pressed the button to close the door, "Thanks… you're a lifesaver. Vahlen would've killed me if I was late."

"Don't mention it, kid," Gabriel chuckled, "What's the thing Vahlen needs you or anyways?"

"Submitting a psionic evaluation, I did one last night," the woman said, only to look up and examine the face of the person standing on her left, "Wait… you're Gabriel, right?"

"Yeah, I am," Gabriel replied, turning to look at the girl, who's jaw had dropped. A surprised look completely covered her face, "Close your mouth, you're drooling."

"I am n…" the woman looked down, "Oh. Sorry," She used her sleeve to wipe up the spittle, "My name's Morgan, sir. I… it's an honour to meet you, sir."

"Call me Gabriel."

"Yes sir, I mean, Gabriel, sir. Sorry… I've just heard so many things about you and Alpha," Morgan nervously replied, "You guys were my hero when I was growing up."

"Surprised I haven't met you," Gabriel said, "When did you join up?"

"A week before you disappeared," Morgan explained, "I never really got a chance to talk to you guys, Ferris was training me."

"Ah… I'm assuming you passed the psi evaluation, right?"

Morgan nodded, a wide smile on her face, "Yup! I passed the Soulfire exam."

"Good job, kid," Gabriel replied, reciprocating the smile.

"Well, it's not like it's going to be uncommon anymore," Morgan continued, "Vahlen did a projection using human genetics and apparently, almost everyone is at least somewhat psionic."

Gabriel turned his head to the younger woman, "Wait, really? I thought psionics were rare."

"Yeah, so did everyone," Morgan sarcastically replied, "But I tuned out after she said most humans are or would be psionic. I don't want to imagine every person alive with weird mind powers."

"That's fair. I wouldn't want to have to be in charge of enforcing rules on a bunch of psions, I doubt anyone else will," Gabriel said as the elevator door chimed open, "Well this is my stop. Have a good time, kid. With any luck, Vahlen won't test you half as much as she did us."

"Wait, what?"

Gabriel looked back as the elevator doors began to close, "You'll know what I mean soon. Have a nice one."

Morgan's face lit up with a smile as the elevator door closed, "Thank you sir. I mean, Gabriel, sir."

Gabriel chuckled as the doors closed, leaving him on the floor below the command deck. A short walk later, and he stood in front of the door to Emerald's room. He knocked, shortly after the door slid open to reveal Emerald standing right in front of him.

"Hey dad," Emerald said, looking at his new metal arm, "How's your arm feeling? It looks heavy."

"It's not that heavy," Gabriel replied as Emerald ushered him into the room, "And honestly, it feels fine. Nothing really I can complain about. How're you liking the new room?"

"Well…" Emerald murmured, "Yang has no decency whatsoever. And there's not a lot of privacy in the room. I could see everything."

"Well, everyone here is going to be a young adult, you all know what you are and aren't supposed to do," Gabriel joked, "That said, you are all… somewhat responsible."

"I wouldn't call Yang particularly responsible…" Emerald muttered, "And… well, the shower area is… open… more than I would like."

"Well, it was the same for us back in the day, kiddo," Gabriel said, "Think of it as a… bonding exercise," Emerald shivered, "Not like that. Hell, did you get into Anne's collection or something?"

"No… I am an adult, like you said," Emerald replied.

"But…" she continued, while sitting down on what appeared to be her bed, "Sometimes Yang acts a bit too friendly."

"Again, I'm not particularly surprised."

"And it's not like this is going to get any better when we pick up Jaune and Pyrrha and they move in here," Emerald finished.

"Yeah, I heard about them from Angela," her father replied, "At least they're probably using rubber. I doubt Jaune's parents want his family to grow any more than it has already."

"DAAAD!"

Gabriel brought his new arm up to block the pillow Emerald threw at him, "So where's Yang?"

"In the shower," Emerald said, withdrawing her pillow, "I was planning on having one after her, but she's been in there for almost half an hour."

"Well, there are enough showers for six people," Gabriel pointed out, "More if you share."

"DAAAD!" another pillow strike from the greenette.

"I'm not wrong."

"Bu… but, it… NO!" Emerald blushed, "Yang might tease me…"

Gabriel looked surprised, "About what?"

"I dunno, she's Yang!" Emerald was, at this point, stuttering, "And besides, it makes me feel… uncomfortable… I don't like people seeing me like that."

"That's understandable," Gabriel tried to calm down the girl, placing his arm delicately around her, "Anyway, I'm assuming you met Jake, right?"

Emerald nodded, "You know him?"

"I'm like his uncle," The older man said, "He's a good kid, and a good shot for someone his age."

"And he's staying with us here?" Emerald queried, cocking her head to the side

"He's going to be joining you guys on missions, so yeah."

"Can… can he keep up?"

Gabriel nodded, "He's not as good as I am, but his mom's been training him in psionics for a good while now and Annette's pretty kickass with them herself. He won't be that much of a detriment to you guys, if any."

"And who knows," he continued, "If Vahlen gets her way, we might get you all tested as well and he might be able to teach you a few things."

"Is this Vahlen person nice?"

Gabriel shrugged, "She can be, but she is a scientist at heart. She likes getting results so in a lab setting, no, she's not always nice. Outside of the lab, she can be nice. And she is."

Emerald seemed to smile, "So we might be seeing her soon, right?"

"In casual, yeah," her old man said, "Go to the bar sometime, you're bound to find her there. If Bradford's there."

"So… about the testing thing, what do you mean by getting us all tested?" Emerald questioned, "It's about that psionic thing, isn't it? Will I be able to do the stuff you can?"

"Ehhh… maybe," Gabriel patted Emerald's shoulder, "It depends on how powerful you are psychically."

"So if I'm not as strong, what'll happen?"

Gabriel brought his metal hand to his chin, scratching it a few times before replying, "A training regime focused on using your power sparingly and effectively all while working on endurance."

Emerald's face scrunched in thought, "So I won't shoot lasers from my hands."

"First, they're called Null Lances and second I didn't say that," Gabriel stated, "Psionics are mostly about training, some people are just born a bit further along. Think of it like a muscle."

"People are born with genes that give them natural strength, that's true," he continued, "But just because they are naturally strong doesn't mean that someone who trains enough can't surpass them."

Emerald's face lit up, "So I could get as good as you if I train, right?"

"Well, you'd need to train for a long damn time," Gabriel laughed, "I haven't stopped for twenty years and I doubt I will anytime soon."

"But anyways, as I was saying," Gabriel said, reverting the course back to the original point, "Like a muscle, you need to train it to get better with it, sometimes by doing the same thing one, two, maybe even three hundred times in one session. Unlike a muscle, once you train your body to do something with psionics, you can't lose it with time. If you learn how to do a Null Lance-"

Emerald chuckled, "I like laser beams better."

"Well, it's called a Null Lance. Anyway, you won't lose the capability to do a Null lance, it just won't be as effective," Gabriel said as he glanced over at the clock on the wall, "Wow, ten minutes and Yang still isn't finished in there."

"Yeah, she does take long showers," Emerald agreed, before turning to her father and asking, "So what would happen if I'm strong?"

"Well, first you would find the natural limit to your abilities," Gabriel explained, "The stronger you are, the more time you're given to experiment with your abilities and come up with things that suit you."

"So like Ruby and that whip thing she could do?"

Gabriel nodded, "I have yet to see it, but yeah, that sound about right. But all that comes quote-unquote "free time" you would get comes with needing to learn control. Powerful psions can be exceptionally dangerous, so most of the time you would spend not experimenting would be devoted to you learning to reign in your powers in stressful situations. You understand?"

"Yeah that makes sense, I think."

"Well, that's all good," Gabriel again patted his daughter's shoulder, " So, how're you liking the shi-" A knock cut him off.

"Can I come in?" the voice of Summer Rose rang out from the other side.

"Sure!" Emerald called back, the door sliding open as Summer began to walk into the room.

"I see you've gotten settled in, haven't you?" Summer said as she glanced around the room, noting that both Emerald and Yang had picked out their own bunks, with Jake's in the corner area, two bunks down from Emerald's own, "So, how do you like the Avenger?"

"It's pretty big," Emerald replied, "And it's a bit imposing, but I think it's nice."

"That's lovely, Emerald," Summer patted the green-haired girl's head as she spoke, then turning to Gabriel, "So how's the new arm feeling?"

"It's nice," Gabriel replied as he raised his arm up a bit, clenching his fist a few times, "Not as heavy as I thought it would be, so I should be fine to move around with it."

"Then I guess we should have a match just to see if you're still up to snuff," Summer grinned.

"Oh I'm more than up to snuff, Summy," Gabriel smirked back at his sister, "But yeah, we can spar a bit, once we get to Mistral and all. And, y'know, find Ruby and the rest of them."

"That won't be too hard," Summer said, "From what Tai told me, Qrow went after them. Oracle can track scroll signals using the Shadow Chamber so we will be hot on their tail soon enough."

"That's all good, then," Gabriel agreed as he heard the shower turn off, "Well, looks like Yang is coming out, we should probably be heading off now," he slowly rose from his seated position on Emerald's bed and made his way to the door, followed by Summer, "See yah later, kiddo."

"Bye dad! Bye aunt Summer!" the greenette called out in response.

The door closed behind them, as Gabriel turned to Summer, a smile on his face "So, how's the last few month's been going for you?"

"Absolute hell…" Summer said, her tone sounding slightly sad, "You know I thought you died, right?"

"Well, I didn't. I'm still here, am I not?"

"That's not the point, Gabe," Summer replied, "I thought I had lost you again. So please just… try not to be a headstrong idiot like that again."

"But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about…" Summer fidgeting nervously, "I… I need your help."

"Help with what, exactly?" her brother questioned.

"So you know how Taiyang is Ruby's father?" Summer said, to which her brother nodded, "He's not."

Gabriel blinked a few times, "Hold up, what?"

"Exactly what I just said, Tai isn't Ruby's father. He and I were never married, he's just been taking care of Ruby because her actual father thought he was too dangerous."

"And she doesn't know why?" Gabriel queried, somewhat confused at his twin sister's actions, "It seems like an important thing to know, does it not?"

"Yeah, no need to berate me, I know I fucked up, believe me, I do," Summer replied.

"So who is her father, then?" Gabriel asked, "Some rando from the streets?"

"Her father is Qrow."

"Qrow. You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I'm not kidding. I'm not joking, I'm not playing around, I'm being a hundred and ten percent serious," Summer sternly replied, "Qrow and I were married and all four of us lived in the same house for a good while. Raven had Yang, then she left for fuck knows what reason, I convinced Qrow to at least give a kid a chance and he did and I had Ruby."

"And he left because of what?"

"He was scared of himself," Summer reiterated, "His semblance is bad luck, so he didn't want to be around any of us in case he caused an accident to happen."

"So why do you need my help exactly? Shouldn't this sorta be a private conversation, y'know, just you, Tai, Qrow, Yang and Ruby?"

"Look, I… I just want you there as someone to help Yang and Ruby get through it," Summer said, moving in front of Gabriel and placing her right hand on his shoulder, "Look, neither of them are going to want to talk to any of us after we tell her the truth. You are probably going to be one of the only people who could actually get through to them."

Gabriel stood still, looking down into the pleading eyes of Summer. She was desperate, that much was obvious, but more than that she looked on the verge of a mental breakdown, her eyes already forming tears.

"Please… I don't want her to hate me…"

Gabriel sighed, pulling Summer into a deep hug, his metal arm patting the back of her head softly, "Yeah, I know you don't. I'll help you, don't worry about that."

Summer continued to sob, and try as she might, she couldn't find herself able to speak, at least not in any cohesive manner.

"And I know how much this means to you, Summy," Gabriel continued as he held his sister close, "I'll be there for them, and for all of you, when you have the talk."

"You promise?" Summer sputtered, her voice interrupted by hiccups and some tears.

"I promise," her brother replied, the two of them staring at each other directly in the other's silvery eyes. Summer smiled through the water in hers, a sweet smile that could make the coldest of hearts melt away in but moments.

"Thank you…" she squeaked out, her voice somewhat high pitched, "You're the best brother ever… Thank you…"

Gabriel's face scrunched up in surprise, "I am?"

"After all you've done for everyone?" Summer said in the same high pitched tone, "There's no one who deserves it more than you."

"Thanks, Summy," the taller man replied as the two broke their hug, "Well, I'm probably going to go to the bar soon with Angie, wanna tag along?"

"Sure, I just gotta go tell Oracle to start tracking scroll signals," Summer stated as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"And Oracle is?"

"The ship's new AI tha Vahlen and Tygan installed. She's pretty helpful, if not a bit quirky at times," Summer said as she began to walk to the elevator, "Anyway, save me a seat and some wine. I'll be back down in a moment."

Gabriel nodded and the elevator door closed. Silently, he sighed to himself as he walked to the room he and Angela shared with Darren and Anne. He finally got his family back and already there was drama. But that didn't matter.

He was with his family now, and he would help them no matter what.

* * *

 _ **Anyway, that's the chapter, hope you like it and I hope I can get another chapter out soon. Again, sorry for the shorter chapter, it's mostly filler. That said, next chapter will be Ruby's group meeting Oscar and fighting the Nuckleeve, Weiss being "Kidnapped" by Xcom and a whole lot of other shenanigans.**_

 _ **This is Narsauce, signing off. Have a good one!**_


End file.
